Crime & Safety
Frantic Efforts To Save Clerk's Life Recounted By 7-11 Customer
It was in a pool of blood that customer Jimmy "Jim" Walker found Kenneth Lee Redding, 54, of Gibsonton, lying in an aisle, fighting to stay alive.
Four to five times a week is how often Jimmy "Jim" Walker said he frequents the 7-11 at Bloomingdale Avenue and Providence Road, where shortly after 1:30 a.m. July 10 he found himself there again, in a life-and-death situation, trying helplessly to stop the bleeding of a fallen clerk.
Kenneth Lee Redding, 54, of Gibsonton, died later, at Tampa General Hospital, but not before Walker attempted to save his life.
"I just wish I could have done something," Walker said. "I guess just being there with him, trying to stop the bleeding the best I could, I guess that is all I could do."
That would be an accurate assessment, said deputy Larry McKinnon, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, who was at the scene when Walker gave his account.
According to the sheriff's office's report, the search is on for the man wanted in the fatal stabbing of Redding, found in a pool of blood at the 7-11 at Bloomingdale Avenue and Providence Road, across the street from the southwest corner of Winthrop Town Centre, in Riverview.
Detectives reviewing the surveillance video have described the suspect as a white male wearing a royal blue and black hoodie. Motive has not yet been clearly established.
Walker said that when he arrived at the 7-11, he couldn't see a clerk. He didn't know that on duty was Redding, a man Walker said he knew well by sight and with whom he would often "shoot the breeze."
"He [Redding] didn't have a care in the world," Walker said. "He was a very nice guy."
Walker found him "in a pool of blood," lying in the aisle, which prompted Walker to run outside to ask another customer to call 911.
Back inside, Walker rushed to Redding's aid.
"He was trying to speak, he was gurgling," Walker said. "I couldn't understand what he was trying to say."
Walker said he grabbed some napkins and attempted to stop the flow of blood.
"I thought I was losing him," Walker said. "I asked him if he could hear me, to blink his eyes, and he did."
Meanwhile, the customer who had called 911 brought the phone inside and told Walker his report on the situation was requested.
"I couldn't hold the phone and help him [Redding] at the same time," Walker said. "So I laid the phone on the counter and told them, 'I can't hear you, but this is what I'm doing.' "
"I knew it was critical," Walker said, recounting his desperate efforts to stop the bleeding. "I was just praying that the paramedics would get here quickly. He lost a good amount of blood."
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