Gallery Owner Killed in Accident

A pine tree trimming project in Gulfport on December 3 turned deadly when William Randy Loyd fell off his ladder and hit his head.

“He was trimming a limb about 12 inches in diameter using a ladder up against a tree and apparently fell while doing the cutting,” said Gulfport Police Sergeant Thomas Woodman. “He landed in a parking spot that was part of the roadway.”

First responders received the emergency call at 10:36 a.m.

Loyd suffered “severe head trauma” as a result of the fall at his home in the 3000 block of Beach Boulevard, was treated at the scene by medics and was then sent to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg hospital as a “trauma alert” patient, said Woodman.

On Monday night, December 4, Loyd died at the hospital, said Woodman.

Loyd was the owner of Portspace on Beach Boulevard and served as a director of the Gulfport Food Forest, a local non-profit group that was incorporated on May 18, 2017. According to corporate records, the purpose of the group is to create “bio-rich, edible corridors available to the public” and to “educate and activate sustainable gardening within the community.”