Family says St. Pete police could've done better

Seay's uncle, the Rev. James Seay (right), says the family is devastated.

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Some family members of the alleged gunman in the Monday night shooting of an undercover St. Petersburg police detective say the situation could have been avoided.

The family says while they don't condone what James Allen Seay allegedly did, they also don't approve of how the St. Petersburg Police Department handled everything.

"Don't let things happen when you see it's going to occur," said Eliene Seay, the suspect's aunt. "Stop it, and that will cure everything."

Eliene Seay and the suspect's cousin, Carla Seay, say they think the situation could have been avoided.

They say the undercover detectives who were watching the teens should have approached them when they noticed them acting suspiciously.

"If you call back up, you should have cut on your lights and pulled them over -- that is probable cause," Carla Seay said.

Ferrall Davis, 22, says when he heard his younger brother was involved in the shooting of an undercover officer, he couldn't believe it.

"That really shocked me because my brother is not that type of person," Davis said.

Davis says he believes peer pressure led Seay and his friends to allegedly rob the Exxon gas station at 3061 First Ave. North.

Seay's uncle, the Rev. James Seay, says the family is devastated.

"He could have stopped that young, black boy from messing up the rest of his life, but he chose to go the other way," the uncle said. "Now my nephew is in jail and doesn't know what his future is."

Seay continues to be held at the Pinellas County Jail without bond. The state attorney's office says if convicted of the charges against him, he could face life in prison.

Seay's family says they are considering legal action against the St. Petersburg Police Department.