Victim of Pasco carjacking avoided getting into car

Marshall Pate bumped into an old schoolmate Thursday.

It didn’t take long for him to realize he was dealing with someone out of his mind. Pate had just finished unloading his girlfriend’s Chevy Malibu, when a man who looked extremely nervous told him he needed a ride.

“I said, ‘No, brother. Sorry, I’ve got to go cut the grass and the lawn,’ and he said, ‘No, I need a ride. They’re looking for me,'” Pate said.

That man was Kenneth Brown. Brown was fleeing a homeowner who he had robbed earlier and law enforcement, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said. He insisted Pate give him a ride.

“I heard a door open. I turned, and he slid right in the car and pulled the gun out, a revolver, that he had, and he said, ‘Get in the car,’ and I said, ‘No,'” Pate explained.

Pate said he asked his partner, who was sitting in a nearby truck, for the spare key to the Malibu. He claims he then tossed the key to Brown and told him to go.

“I think it stunned him that he got the keys and he got what he wanted. I wasn’t getting in the car,” Pate added.

Brown backed the Malibu out of the parking spot, stopped for a moment, then, according to Pate, drove off.

“I know I wasn’t getting in a car with a crazy man and a gun, and I told him that. He looked, I think that’s what. He stopped; he wasn’t prepared to hear that I believe, and I changed his train of thought. If he would have kept on his plan, there’s no telling what would, if I let him delegate, and he has no idea what he’s doing. Oh lord,” Pate said.

Soon deputies swarmed the Belmont Place apartments in Zephyrhills. They recovered the vehicle and, according to Pate, it suffered significant damage before Brown abandoned it.

Pate shook off the incident, saying he hopes Brown is in a place where he can get the help he needs.

He told 8 On Your Side he didn’t recognize Brown at first, but realized later that they went to school together.

“He didn’t want to shoot me. He wanted to get away. He needed to get away from himself, maybe,” Pate said. “He’ll find himself, huh?”