He’s going to get a concussion from the book they throw at him. damn shame.
USATODAY.com – Young killer Lionel Tate held in pizza delivery robbery
PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Tate, the teen freed from prison after becoming the youngest person in modern U.S. history to be given a life sentence, was arrested for pulling a gun on a pizza delivery man at a friend’s apartment and beating up the friend, investigators said.
Tate, 18, was being held Tuesday at the Broward County Jail on charges of armed robbery of the driver, armed burglary with battery on the boy and probation violation.
AP
Tate
He was serving probation following his release on a guilty plea to second-degree murder in the beating death of a 6-year-old family friend when he was 12. Tate was being held without bond on the probation violation charge and was expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday.
Tate called in a pizza order Monday from the friend’s apartment and pointed a gun at the delivery man when he arrived, said Broward sheriff’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Calzadilla-Fiallo. The man dropped the four pizzas and called police after returning to the restaurant.
Tate left the 12-year-old friend’s apartment while waiting for the pizza, forced his way back in when the boy resisted and repeatedly hit him before the delivery man arrived in this Fort Lauderdale suburb, said Calzadilla-Fiallo.
The delivery man returned to the apartment complex with deputies, saw Tate in the area and identified him as the suspect, said Calzadilla-Fiallo. No gun was recovered.
Attorney Richard Rosenbaum, who has represented Tate, told The Associated Press that Tate and his mother called him as he was being arrested. “I heard he jacked a pizza delivery guy, which I can’t believe happened,” Rosenbaum said. “I’m shocked and appalled.”
Tate made headlines when he was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Tiffany Eunick. He was convicted in 1999 and sent to prison for life without chance of parole. He won a new trial on appeal and went free in January 2004 under a deal that placed him under house arrest for a year followed by probation for 10 years.
Tate first claimed Tiffany was injured whey he imitated wrestling moves that he saw on television. He changed his story years later and said he accidentally killed Tiffany when he jumped on her from a staircase while his mother was baby-sitting the girl. Tate weighed 160 pounds; Tiffany weighed about 50.
He was arrested in September for violating probation by being out of his home overnight after an argument with his mother. A judge added another five years to the 10 years Tate had left on the original probation.