He admitted shooting the dead man, according to Hillsborough sheriff’s deputies.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY – A Lutz man has been charged with manslaughter in the death Thursday (Sept. 14) of another man, the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office said.

Joshua McCray, 44, died at the scene, the Villages at Turtle Creek Apts. He had sustained a blunt impact to his head as well as a gunshot wound in his back.

Joshua Curry, 27, was charged with manslaughter with a weapon.

Deputies received a 911 call about 5:16 p.m.from a resident near 1901 Oak Creek Circle in Lutz. The resident reported that a man was lying on the ground with blood on his face. The caller said the man might have been shot. When deputies arrived, they found Mr. McCray lying on the ground. He was bleeding from the head and chest. He was pronounced dead about 5:37 p.m.

Deputies found Curry and two women witnesses at a nearby apartment in the same complex. Deputies said that Curry told them he had shot Mr. McCray. One of the women also told deputies that she had shot him.That woman complained of anxiety and was taken to Florida Hospital. The other witness stayed at the scene.

Curry told deputies that he had provided one of the women with .380 caliber, Hi-point handgun because she wanted to protect herself against Mr. McCray, who had injured her several times before. Curry said he called her shortly after she left his apartment and heard a struggle over the open line.

Curry went to the woman’s apartment to help her and, when he got there, he saw Mr. McCray choking the woman in the living room and trying to hit her with a gun case. Curry said he recognized the case as the one in which he kept his gun.

Curry, Mr. McCray and the woman engaged in a three-way physical altercation. Deputies said Curry told them that he and the woman were both trying to defeat Mr. McCray who was much larger than either of them.

Curry pulled an expandable baton from his pocket and struck Mr. McCray with it, deputies said. He and Mr. McCray continued fighting into the breezeway in front of the apartment. The gun case ended up on the ground during the struggle and Curry grabbed the gun and loaded it.

Mr. McCray fled with Curry chasing him, deputies said. Curry told deputies he raised the gun to chest level while chasing Mr. McCray and fired one time in his direction. Curry said he intended to scare Mr. McCray so that he would not return to hurt the woman.

Curry admitted to deputies that Mr. McCray was running away from him, and was not in possession of any visible or known weapons at the time he fired the gun and shot him.

For information about the Hillsborough sheriff, go to hcso.tampa.fl.us.

Hillsborough Sheriff | Crime | Manslaughter | Arrests | Tampabay News | TB Reporter

#HillsboroughSheriff #Crime #Manslaughter #Arrests #TampabayNews #TBReporter