Recent deaths fan fears of a Tampa serial killer
Neighborhood deals with three shootings in span of two weeks
The shooting deaths of three people in two weeks within about amile of each other in Tampa have sparked fears of a serial killer.
Police are escorting children to school in the Seminole Heights neighborhood. Officers warn residents not to walk alone at night. A city bus changed its route to detour around the sites of two of the incidents.
But police don’t have a motive or suspect in the killings that began Oct. 9 and are linked so far only by time and proximity.
The first victim was Benjamin Mitchell, 22. Five days later, the body of Monica Hoffa, 32, was found in a vacant lot. Then Anthony Naiboa, 20, was shot and killed Oct. 19.
“I’m afraid,” Maria Maldonado, who lives near the scene of two of the shootings, which were about 300 yards apart, told the Associated Press.
Maldonado won’t let her 7- year- old son play in the yard.
“We don’t open the door. ... A lot of people are scared,” she said. “I’m scared formy son, for the neighborhood.”
Seminole Heights is a working- class neighborhood northeast of downtown Tampa that’s gentrifying. Run- down homes sit next to renovated bungalows. Trendy restaurants have sprung up near auto body shops.
“We don’t know what’s next,” Majed Foqahaa told the Associated Press. He is the owner of the M& M market, where two of the victims used to buy snacks.
Foqahaa said he has a concealed carry permit for a handgun, and he keeps it at the store while he is working. When he walks out to his car at night, he holds it in his hand.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said the city put dozens of officers in the area around the clock. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also are helping, he said. “We’re going to find this guy and we’re not leaving this neighborhood till we do,” Buckhorn said.
Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan wasn’t hesitant to use the term serial killer, in order to bring attention to the investigation.
“We can call it what we want,” Dugan said.