TAMPA CRIMINAL BLOG: Bride In Tears, Grandmother Choked As Wedding Reception Turns Into A Parking Lot Brawl
It is safe to say a Tampa bride never envisioned her wedding reception at the Rusty Pelican on Rocky Point ending in a brawl that involved a convicted felon showing up with a gun and a 74-year-old grandmother being chocked but according to TampaBay.com that is just what happened this past weekend. According to the story the trouble started at the end of the night when the groom started throwing dollar bills onto the dance floor as the kids at the wedding ran to pick up the money. That didn’t sit well with some of the guests as the wedding party became split into two sides.
As the two sides argued the confrontation turned physical and a fight started in the Rusty Pelican parking lot. Police were called at that point and one of the officers on the scene was assaulted as he tried to separate the wedding guests. Somehow the fight continued at a new location four miles away in the parking lot of a hotel. At this point police say convicted felon Malcolm Hepburn was called because his cousin was hit with a brick. Hepburn showed up at the parking lot with a stolen gun and approached the groom’s father and the grandmother. As the grandmother protested that the fighting stop she was grabbed from behind by a woman who reportedly said “I am going to choke you out” as she wrapped her hands around the women’s neck.
Officers arrived on the scene and placed Hepburn under arrest charging him with felony battery, grand theft of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The groom, who was out of prison for less than a month after serving time on cocaine charges, was not charged and he is now on a honeymoon cruise with his new bride.
If you have been charged with a crime in Tampa or Hillsborough County and need qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Stephen Higgins at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourCase.com. Also you can contact Stephen via email or by stopping in our Tampa office located at 3426 W. Kennedy Blvd.
