Man faces 10 years prison on charges connected to fatal shootout

A man who initially faced a murder charge in connection to a 2015 fatal shootout in Pride Park faces up to 10 years prison on other related charges.

Napoleon Hale, 39, pleaded no contest to charges of attempted first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon last week. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Circuit Judge Brian Iten will sentence Hale at 1:30 p.m. July 21.

After the shootout, Hale was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was released from the Manatee County jail after posting a $7,500 bond, but he was rearrested two days later and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Kenye Cooper Sr., 26.

Assistant State Attorney Art Brown, who prosecutes homicides, declined to file a formal charge of murder against Hale. The state did eventually file the firearms possession and attempted murder charges.

He has been in custody at the Manatee County jail since his second arrest Dec. 18, 2015.

On Dec. 16, 2015, Hale and another resident were playing video games inside a home in the 1000 block of 61st Avenue Drive East, Bradenton, when Cooper and Fredrick Dinel Smith, 26, arrived and entered the house through an unlocked front door. Cooper held the other man, a woman and child in the back of the house as Smith confronted Hale.

Smith pointed a gun at Hale as he demanded money, and Hale took $50 out of his pocket, but Smith demanded more money. But when Smith dropped his gun, Hale was able to push him out the front door, and a struggle ensued in the yard.

Cooper appeared in the doorway of the house and pointed his revolver at Hale. The other male resident then picked up the gun Smith had dropped in an effort to defend Hale and shot Cooper from behind with it.

Smith ran from the scene as Cooper got into Hale’s car parked in front of the house and sped off toward a dead end. Hale then took a rifle, belonging to the other man involved, and went down to the dead end to check on the car, found Cooper and fired a single round into the car.

But Hale later told detectives that the shot into the car had been accidental.

Everyone involved had fled from the scene by the time deputies arrived. Hale was found a block away.

In April of this year, Smith pleaded no contest to one count of armed robbery in connection to the incident and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

This story was originally published June 9, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Man faces 10 years prison on charges connected to fatal shootout."