Residents React to Wheeler Road Deputy Involved Shooting

The sheriff's cars and yellow caution tape, along with the investigators, reporters and cameras that disrupted the peace in a laid-back Seffner community, caused curious onlookers to congregate near the corner of West Wheeler Road and North Taylor Street on May 14.

Nearby, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee was on the scene as well, across the street from 904 West Wheeler Road, where earlier in the afternoon a deputy on backup fired the fatal shot that claimed the life of Bobby Earl Driggers.

• See

• See Sheriff Gee: Deputy's Shot Kills 'Career Criminal'

Among the onlookers was Donna Denhoff and her daughter, Shea, who was home sick for the day from Blake High School, where she studies dance in the arts magnet program.

She said earlier in the day "a guy pulled up to the driveway and was knocking on the door and after awhile he just drove away." Later, "a guy in a blue shirt and tie was banging on my window and started taking to a neighbor in my yard, a clipboard in his hand, and then he walked away."

Then, Denhoff called her mom.

"She said the deputies were in the area and she could see out the window the yellow caution tape and the cameras and the deputy cars," Donna Denhoff said. "And just that somebody was shot."

With her nerves heightened, Donna Denhoff said she made her way home.

"A lot of us have lived here six, seven or eight years," she said. Neighbors at the corner, she added, have lived in their home for generations.

"It's normally very quiet here," Donna Denhoff said, adding that at the trailer where the shot was fired, loud music and fighting have often been heard. "We all have dogs and they all alert us when anything is going on."

Walking near the scene was Richard Bedford, who said he lives a few blocks away. He has lived there for five years, and in Seffner for 20.

"I came out of the house and drove here to find out what's going on," he said. "Our neighborhood is a good one. It's a shame that this has happened."

Around his neighborhood, though, Bedford said he has heard "rifles, pistols and shotguns," and "the reason I know the difference is because I'm ex-military." He said he also feared drug activity in the area.

As for what transpired on West Wheeler Road on May 14, Bedford had nothing but praise for the responders.

"I'm glad they got him and I'm glad the deputy's alright, I have a lot of respect for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office," Bedford said.

Donna Denhoff agreed.

"But my stomach's still upset and I still haven't gotten over my heart attack," she added, in reference to the phone call she received from her daughter that alerted her to the goings-on back at home.

Still, she said, "I'm glad they caught him," and that with the aftermath investigation, however disruptive it was, "that they were doing what they should be doing."