[Pantyholic]

TAMPA - A convicted cross-dressing felon wanted on armed burglary, assault and other charges was arrested after being shot by officers during a chase Wednesday afternoon, police said.

About 4:30 p.m., Jermonte Thornton, 27, wearing a pinkish woman's housedress, black slip, pink Crocs, wig and stuffed bra, jumped from a second-story balcony at Lenox Place Apartments off 22nd Street near Fowler Avenue, police said.

Thornton ran from the apartment complex, jumped over a barbed wire fence and reached a railroad track before a police dog caught him. Thornton is being treated at Tampa General Hospital for a gunshot wound to his left side during an earlier chase.

At 2 p.m., police had a tip that Thornton was heading to a friend's house at 2207 East Annie St. They were going to serve him warrants on charges of armed burglary, battery and aggravated assault.

When Thornton drove to Annie and 22nd streets, police officers tried to box him in with three police sport utility vehicles.

Thornton repeatedly rammed into the three SUVs and then struck a tree. Fearing for their lives, two police officers shot at Thornton several times. He was hit once.

But Thornton was able to drive from the scene, police said.

Thornton ditched the car at Scruggs Manor Apartments, 11201 N. 22nd St., a block south of the Lenox Place Apartments. Officers found a gun and blood in his car. A trail of blood led police to the apartment complex, 11311 N. 22nd St, and specifically to four apartments.

Thornton knocked on the door of an apartment where Tydarreia Watkins lives and said, "It's me," said Andrea Davis, Tampa police spokeswoman. Watkins, 20, thought it was someone she knew and opened the door.

He entered, closed the door, locked it and threatened Watkins, Davis said.

"I was very scared – very, very scared," said Watkins, who lives alone with a dog. "I thought I was going to die."

She said Thornton was bleeding from his arm, getting blood on the walls. He wanted her to hide with him. He also asked her to message his friends on the computer. He wanted to know where police officers were located and if he could escape, she said.

While she contacted his friends, she messaged her friends to help her and to call police.

"His friends were giving him information," Watkins said. "As they were giving him information, I was giving my friends information, trying to get some help."

Thornton asked her for clothes and a wig; he grabbed a bra, she said.

"I was just trying to do anything to not upset him and make him hurt me," said Watkins, adding that Thornton didn't have a gun. "I was trying to protect myself the best way I thought that I could."

When police got to her front door, the suspect went to the balcony at the rear of the apartment and jumped. Watkins, who wasn't hurt, went to the front door, opened it and ran.

Police had set up a perimeter around the complex, and Witter Elementary, 10801 N. 22nd St., was placed on lockdown.

Thornton, of Tampa, was released from state prison in June after serving about 14 months on charges including fleeing and eluding, records show.

The charges against Thornton include aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, home invasion robbery and false imprisonment.

Source TBO

[mic091221]

i don't think he was really a cross dresser,,, i think he was just trying to get away from the police,,, just My humble opinion