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Family says St. Petersburg man killed in apparent road rage incident was a kid at heart

 
Malcolm J. DiPina, 22, faces a man?slaughter charge.
Malcolm J. DiPina, 22, faces a man?slaughter charge.
Published May 3, 2016

ST. PETERSBURG — He was an avid disc golf player, quick with witticisms and wisecracks. He talked excitedly about one day opening a Korean food truck. His cousin thought of him as a cross between entertainers Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Adam Sandler.

Scott R. Franklin was, his friends and family said, a boy at heart — gregarious, charitable and easygoing.

"He was a 41-year-old who thought he was 18," said his father, Ben.

So to those who knew him, Franklin's sudden death this past weekend in what police described as a road-rage shooting simply makes no sense.

"He was the guy who would have leaned out the window and gave you directions because you were lost," said Jimmie Carlyle, 42, Franklin's best friend since childhood. "He's not the guy who would be flipping you off."

St. Petersburg police say that early Saturday morning, Franklin got into an altercation with a group of people driving near him in two cars. One of the cars had cut off another, according to police. At a red light at Fifth Avenue S and Sixth Street, Franklin got out of his car and walked up to the back window of one of the other cars, according to a police report. Malcolm J. DiPina, 22, of Sarasota told detectives he was afraid for his safety, so he fired a Glock pistol at Franklin between three and five times, according to the report. The driver of the car then sped away as Franklin collapsed on the pavement.

Carlyle said that account didn't sound like his friend.

"Common sense alone says that you're not going to be screaming at two carloads of guys," he said.

DiPina is facing a manslaughter charge in the case.

Franklin's cousin Michelle Devereaux said he had just left work after a shift at El Gallo Grande, where he was a server. He had been staying with his parents and was on his way home. His father, Ben, 68, said his son was driving his car — a 2012 Ford Focus — and would have been extra careful not to be reckless, saying, "He knows if he damaged my car, he wouldn't be driving it."

Two days later, the questions weighed on his loved ones, who struggled to grieve without their usual source of levity.

"At times like this when we're mourning, we need him," said Devereaux, 40. "He was always the one who would take our minds off it and make us laugh when all we wanted to do was cry."

Old classmates from Northeast High School in St. Petersburg posted remembrances of Franklin on Facebook. His father spent much of the morning at a funeral home.

A lifelong St. Petersburg resident, Franklin earned a degree in exercise science and sports medicine from the University of Florida, his family said. For more than a decade, he worked sporadically as a trainer at local health clubs and studios, they said. He married once and divorced. He had two sons, one age 10, the other a few years younger, Devereaux said, but he hadn't seen them in years.

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In recent months, Franklin had been working long shifts at El Gallo Grande while also tending bar at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, where the Toronto Blue Jays have spring training, Carlyle said. He played disc golf — which replaces a golf ball and club with a flying disc and arm — at Maximo Park.

Franklin's mother is Korean, and he had a feverish appetite for her food, Devereaux said, especially Kalbi, a dish of marinated short ribs.

Franklin had long talked about opening a Korean fusion restaurant, his family said. Lately, the dream had morphed into a food truck featuring finger foods with a healthy twist.

Times news researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Zachary T. Sampson at zsampson@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8804. Follow @ZackSampson.