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Police: Man killed in motorcycle club initiation

 
Published March 4, 2015

LAND O'LAKES — What started as rowdiness among a bunch of middle-aged motorcycle riders turned deadly when one man accidentally shot another in the head Sunday night outside a Land O'Lakes bar, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.

Several members of the Southern Sons Motorcycle Club were drinking outside Rock Harley Saloon on Land O'Lakes Boulevard around 9 p.m. Sunday. Billy Lee McDaniel, 44, a prospective member of the club, was holding a plastic garbage can atop his head while others tried to toss in cups and bottles as part of his initiation, sheriff's officials said.

Then, Jeffrey Camarda, 44, thought to try to shoot the bucket off McDaniel's head, deputies said. Camarda missed, according to deputies, and shot McDaniel in the head. Camarda fled after the shooting, and authorities said he went to work Monday morning.

McDaniel was flown to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson, where he died hours later.

About 24 hours after the incident, deputies found Camarda in a parking lot near the intersection of State Road 54 and U.S. 41. He was charged with manslaughter and was being held Tuesday on $250,000 bail in the Land O'Lakes Detention Center.

Camarda, a foreman, had never before been charged with a crime in Florida, state records show.

Contact Josh Solomon at (813) 909-4613 or jsolomon@tampabay.com. Follow @josh_solomon15