Clearwater Man Charged in Largo Attempted Murder

A 32-year-old Clearwater man faces attempted murder charges after Largo Police say he decided to get involved in a fight that broke out at the Wild Indian Bar early Sunday morning.

According to the agency, police were called about 1 a.m. Sunday about possible gunshots in the area of 14th Avenue Northwest and Clearwater Largo Road. When patrol units arrived, they found shell casings and broken glass in the roadway, an email to media from the agency stated.

Those finds kicked off an investigation that led to the bar. Officers learned that a fight had broken out on the street outside the bar a short time prior to the shooting.

“After the altercation the two parties involved in the physical fight both got into vehicles and proceeded to look for each other in the general area,” the email said.

The vehicles involved were a white Ford SUV and a white PT cruiser. At some point, the people inside the PT cruiser went back to the bar and said they had just been in a fight. It’s at that point, police say, Richard Allen Harris “decided to insert himself into the dispute and started driving around in his car, a Black GMC Envoy.”

Harris, the email said, began looking for the Ford SUV. The vehicle, police noted, ended up behind Harris’ Envoy as he turned west onto 14th Avenue Northwest. Police say as the SUV went to make the turn, Harris opened fire on the Ford, “shooting rounds through his own vehicle and windows.”

Those rounds struck the SUV, which had a driver, and two passengers inside. While no one was injured in the shooting, police say the SUV was damaged.

Harris was brought into custody Tuesday and his arrest was announced Wednesday. He faces attempted murder charges. He was also wanted on a failure to appear warrant out of Hillsborough County for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Harris was being held at the Pinellas County Jail without bond, jail records indicate.

Booking photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Jail