University attorney critically wounded

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA – A lawyer for USF’s General Counsel’s office is listed in critical
condition at Tampa General Hospital after being shot twice
Tuesday night.

According to Tampa Police Department, associate General
Counsel Olga Joanow, 47, was shot twice by her friend Patricia
Banks about 10:30 p.m. after an argument between the two.
Banks had been driving Joanow east on Adamo Drive, according
to Joe Durkin, public information officer for Tampa police.

Witnesses said the two were having an argument, which
escalated to the point of Banks stopping the car in the middle of
the road, blocking traffic.

“After that, Joanow falls out of the car, and Banks leans over the
passenger seat and shoots her twice while she’s on the ground,”
Durkin said. “Banks gets out of the car and starts walking north on
the railroad tracks where she was ultimately arrested by police.”
Senior USF Counsel Debra King said her staff has not yet begun
to emotionally deal with the situation, since Joanow is still in
critical condition.

“She’s well regarded in this office, and this is pretty shocking to
us,” King said. “We just heard first thing this morning that she had
been shot and had been at (TGH) and had surgery twice.”

Her employment reviews laude her prowess during litigation. She
has been promoted several times since the General Counsel’s
office hired her in 1993.

Durkin said alcohol may have been involved earlier in the night.
Banks, 50, is currently being held at the Orient Road Jail, charged
with attempted homicide.

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