19-Year-Old Charged With Shooting Father in Sarasota

A 19-year-old has been charged with shooting his father last week in Sarasota, police said Tuesday.

Steven R. Phelps Jr., 19, was arrested Monday and charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Sarasota Police say Phelps shot his 38-year-old father twice in the early hours of March 5 in the 1500 block of 22nd Street.

According to investigators, Phelps rode up to his father on a bicycle pointing a black, semi-automatic handgun and fired three or four shots that missed. "At that point the victim thought his son was only trying to scare him," Sarasota Police Capt. Paul K. Sutton said in a media release.

When the victim turned and started to walk away, Phelps then rode closer and shot him in the back, police said.

"The victim saw his son riding even closer to him and it was clearly apparent to the victim that his son was trying to shoot him in the head," Sutton said. Phelps fired another round that struck his father in the right shoulder before fleeing on the bike, according to investigators.

Officers who responded to the scene that day found the elder Phelps bleeding from wounds to his back and shoulder. He was taken to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton. No update on his condition was made available Tuesday.

The younger Phelps is a convicted felon with previous arrests on 37 criminal charges, including 19 felonies. He was sentenced last year to more than a year in prison for cocaine possession and fleeing a law enforcement officer, online records show.

He was also the victim of a shooting in September at his home in the 1500 block of 29th Street, police said. Phelps refused to cooperate with detectives and declined to speak with them at the time of the shooting, according to authorities.

Phelps was arrested Monday morning in the 1300 block of 21st Street in Sarasota.

Anyone with additional information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective Riley at 941-954-7062.

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