BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE— A 19-year-old Starke man was sentenced to 364 days in jail and six years’ probation for accidentally shooting a woman at a Starke Circle K last December.
Cole William Crosby pleaded no contest to discharging a firearm in public from a vehicle, tampering with physical evidence and grand theft of a firearm. The state dropped a second grand theft charge.
Starke Police Detective Hunter Redding wrote in an arrest report that the high school student admitted to stealing two 9mm handguns from a family member and using the weapons for target practice the following day with friends.
Lottery ticket, snacks and a loud pop
Redding wrote that based on witness statements and store video, the defendant arrived at the convenience store at 10:55 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, with 43-year-old Billie Christine Astra and Astra’s son Dylan M. Armour.
Moments before the three pulled up to the Circle K, a 36-year-old Hampton woman arrived at the store on a pink bicycle, parked the two-wheeler in front of the store, and went inside.
After Crosby parked the red passenger car, Astra went inside the store to cash in a scratch-off ticket and purchase snacks while Crosby and Armour remained in the vehicle.
Astra and the cyclist were inside the Circle K simultaneously but did not interact.
After Astra returned to the vehicle’s back seat, Armour went inside to purchase ice for their motel room at the Sleepy Hollow, leaving Crosby and Astra alone in the car, with Crosby in the driver’s seat and Astra seated behind him.
Redding wrote in his report that at the moment Armour exited the store, the Hampton woman is seen on video near the front door bending over.
Astra told police she heard a loud pop and thought the driver’s seat airbag had deployed.
A witness parked near the defendant said she saw the cyclist exit the store and heard a shot, followed by the woman’s scream.
A second witness inside the store also heard the shot, then saw the victim enter the store shouting that she had been shot.
A third witness was across Temple Avenue when he heard a pop, followed by someone saying: “Don’t hurt him.”
The man said he then drove across the street to purchase gas and saw EMS treating the victim, who was stating she was going to die.
The day after the shooting, Redding interviewed the victim at UF Health Shands in Gainesville.
“(The victim) advised that she did not see who shot her and that she did not hear anything prior to her being shot,” Redding wrote. “(The victim) advised that she remembers her chest hurting and that she was bleeding. (She) stated that an unknown woman stated to her that she couldn’t believe that he shot her.”
The defendant told police that the gun went off accidentally.
“Crosby stated that he placed the firearm in his lap,” wrote the detective. “Upon attempting to place the firearm in the driver door pocket, he pulled the trigger, causing the bullet to strike (the victim’s) upper torso.”
Crosby later discarded the handgun in the Pleasant Grove area, where police recovered it.
