'That's the guy': Survivor recalls shooting at Michael Keetley trial
TAMPA, Fla. - Gonzalo Guevara says 12 years after he was shot in an ambush on Thanksgiving Day, he is still haunted by one image from a police photo pack — the face of the shooter, who he identified as Michael Keetley.
"I started shaking and crying because that’s the guy that shot me," Guevara told the jury at Keetley’s murder trial Thursday.
Guevara and five other men were ambushed while they sat on the porch in Ruskin during the holiday gathering. The shooting killed two brothers, Juan and Sergio Guitron. The four other men survived.
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Prosecutors say Keetley — an ice cream man — was out for revenge and targeted the wrong men in retaliation for an armed robbery and shooting while on his ice cream route 11 months earlier, which left him with injuries to his arm and leg.
They say Keetley became obsessed with finding the people responsible. Prosecutors say he later learned through his own investigation, that a man nicknamed "creeper" may have been involved and decided to take matters into his own hands.
On November 25, 2010, Guevara says a white man, dressed like a law enforcement officer, ordered them to the ground. He says he watched in horror as his friends, one by one, we’re shot.
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But under cross-examination, defense attorney John Grant tried to show Guevara got it wrong. He pointed out that he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol that day. Grant also suggested a donation flier, with Keetley's picture on it after the robbery, may have tainted his memory.
Guevara, acknowledged he donated to Keetley’s donation jar but denied the picture influenced his eyewitness identification of Keetley.
"And a couple of months later he would shoot us," said Guevara.
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"We can agree to disagree on that," quipped Grant.
However, Grant did show Guevara contradicted himself in his initial report of the shooter's hair color. He now believes the hair color was grayish brown.
"It was always orange brown or some combination, until about 30 minutes ago, yes?" asked Grant.
"Right," replied Guevara.
Keetley is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder. Testimony will resume Friday.