Kavitha Surana, Tampa Bay Times, July 10, 2019

A city supervisor who learned he was being fired Wednesday went on a rampage at City Hall, assaulting two colleagues and then aiming a city truck at a group of employees outside, forcing them to retreat into the building, deputies said.

Solid waste supervisor Errol Sylvester Gray, 52, later told deputies that he intended to ram the Ford F-450 flatbed truck into City Hall and drive it into the office of city manager Gregg Mims.

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The incident took place at about 9:03 a.m. at City Hall, 1507 Bay Palm Blvd. Director of public services Dean Scharmen told Gray that he was being fired, according to Mims.

Gray became angry, deputies said, and punched and kicked Scharmen, 58. He suffered a cracked rib and was left with bruises and bleeding on his arms and head, according to an arrest report.

A 50-year-old colleague heard the commotion and saw Gray yelling as he left Scharmen’s office. She told deputies he threw a chair at her and tried to grab her leg and flip her over.

Then Gray jumped into a city-owned flatbed truck and drove west on 15th Avenue N, deputies said. But he made a U-turn and headed back. He aimed the truck at four women standing outside the front entrance of City Hall, deputies said. All four women ran into City Hall, and told deputies they believed Gray intended to run them over.

The mayor said City Hall was placed on lockdown for about 30 minutes, until they heard Gray was arrested.

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