Too close to home.....

The theft of a pair of purses in Lutz this morning turned into a two-county pursuit that didn't end even after Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies boxed in the car and opened fire.

As four deputies shot a combined dozen rounds at the rented Saturn Vue, and as rush-hour traffic mounted on North Dale Mabry Highway, the driver rammed the Saturn through the trap and sped north into Pasco County.

Inside the vehicle, deputies said, were Demetrius Perry, the 23-year-old driver, and Terence Mason, 31, both of Fort Lauderdale. They eventually were arrested by Pasco authorities and charged with two counts each of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

Mason was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and treated for a gunshot wound to a hand.

No other injuries were reported.

By late morning, a half-mile portion of Dale Mabry had been closed in both directions while investigators scoured the median and shoulder for evidence, placing colored and numbered markers on the ground and taking notes.

The highway reopened just after 1 p.m., said Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway.

Callaway said the first purse was stolen about 8 a.m. from a car parked at a day care center at 111 Myrtle Ridge Road in Lutz. Within minutes, the same thieves broke into a car at Lutz Elementary School and stole a purse.

Deputies converged on the area and spotted the maroon Saturn on U.S. 41.

"The chase was on," Callaway said.

On Dale Mabry, the Saturn rammed a deputy's car, Callaway said. Just south of the Calusa Trace Boulevard intersection, deputies collided with the Saturn, spinning it sideways and boxing it in.

The occupants refused to surrender, Callaway said.

"They started ramming deputies' cars," he said. "Four patrol cars were damaged, and one had major damage."

Four deputies opened fire. Paul Alessandri, 39, an 11-year veteran of the sheriff's department, Jason Vance, 31, who has been with the department for six years, Mark Penix, 44, who has 10 years of experience, and John Clark, 42, a 15-year veteran of the department, were placed on administrative leave until an investigation is completed. That is standard procedure in such cases.

Callaway said no shots were fired at the deputies, although he couldn't say immediately whether the men were armed.

After ramming their way out of the trap, the men sped north before heading east on State Road 54 in Pasco County and then to State Road 56 and within a half hour they were spotted by Pasco deputies.

As Pasco deputies closed in, the Saturn stopped at a Target store near County Line Road and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Wesley Chapel.

The commotion woke Alexis Sullivan, who lives in The Lakes at Northwood subdivision behind the department store.

"They were trying to jump over the wall and jump into our yard," said the 20-year-old mother of one.

Sullivan watched as law enforcement officers surrounded the men in her backyard.

"It was right outside my bedroom window," she said. "I was screaming, 'Oh, my God, somebody's going to get shot.'"

Linda Hays lives three homes from where the men were arrested.

"We saw them bring out one of the guys," Hays said. "They pulled one out on a stretcher.