4 Accused Drug Dealers Charged With Murder In Largo Shooting: Sheriff

LARGO, FL — Four men have been arrested in connection to the murder of a 20-year-old man at a Largo business park on April 29.

On Monday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri held a news conference to announce the arrest of the men in the death of Brent Alley of Callahan, near Jacksonville.

On April 29, deputies responded to the All-American Business Center at 8300 Ulmerton Road in Largo for a shooting and found Alley in the parking lot with a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. Alley was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff.

Through their investigation, detectives said they learned Alley had rented a Porsche and driven from Jacksonville to Pinellas County with a friend, Kyle Foster, 22, of Jacksonville. He had $40,000 cash with him, intending to use it to purchase a large amount of high-grade marijuana.

However, the suspected drug dealers — Tyaire Turner, 43, of Pinellas Park, Scott Laracuente, 32, of Largo, Terrell Jackson, 32, of Largo and Joshua Ashley, 28, of Largo — conspired to rob Alley instead of selling him the drugs, the sheriff said. They met at the business center where Laracuente was living in a first-floor unit.

Gualtieri said Turner planned to hide in the stairwell with a Glock 9 mm owned by Ashley and, when Alley arrived, show himself and threaten Alley with the gun. The four men then would steal Alley's money.

Alley and Foster arrived at the business park around 5:45 p.m. Alley had been buying drugs from Ashley for about a year, said Gualtieri. But when he saw three men in the unit where Laracuente was living, he became concerned and took the bag containing the $40,000 back to the Porsche in the parking lot and came back in carrying his own gun.

The men sat around until about 6:30 when Ashley and Jackson left to get food. They returned at about 7:10 p.m. and Ashley handed Alley his food. At that moment, Turner, who had been hiding in the stairwell the entire time, emerged wearing a mask and shot at Alley.

Gualtieri said Alley stumbled into the parking lot, screaming in pain.

"He then literally laid down in the parking lot and died," the sheriff said. "There's video of Alley dying in the parking lot. It's really sad to watch a 20-year-old kid lay down and die over green, but when you play with fire, you’re going to get burned, and sometimes you get killed."

The sheriff said Jackson, Ashley and Laracuente fled to Sarasota in a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which they abandoned in a restaurant parking lot due to its distinctive appearance. Taylor fled the business park on foot. Sheriff's deputies recovered the $40,000 from the Porsche.

The next day, Laracuente took a Greyhound bus to Las Vegas, Nevada, and Ashley and Jackson drove a car to Los Angeles.

Pinellas detectives flew to Los Angeles to try to find Ashley and Jackson but the two men left the city after a few days and drove to Las Vegas to meet up with Laracuente. With the help of the Las Vegas police, Pinellas detectives located the three men at a hotel on the Las Vegas strip where they arrested them.

In the meantime, Turner drove a car to the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. Detectives flew to Washington, D.C., and, with the help of the U.S. Marshal Service, found Turner at a home in northern Virginia.

Gualtieri said the 17-day investigation into the murder took a lot of work on the part of Pinellas detectives.

"It literally took detectives all over the country from Los Angeles, California, Las Vegas, Nevada and north Virginia," said the sheriff. "There were a lot of sleepless nights by a lot of detectives over that period of time to get some really significant bad guys off the street."

Gualtieri said Turner, who actually did the shooting, was charged with first-degree murder. The other three men were charged with felony murder, conspiracy to sell cannabis and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

On Friday, a Pinellas County grand jury indicted all four men who have been extradited back to Pinellas County and remain in jail.