3 slayings fuel fear of serial killer in Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. — Fears of a serial killer have police in Tampa escorting children to school in one neighborhood near downtown, and led a city bus to change its usual route.

Three people have been shot to death in the past two weeks within a 1-mile radius in the normally quiet Seminole Heights neighborhood. Police say they believe the shootings are linked by proximity and time frame, but they don’t have a motive or a suspect.

The three victims did not know each other, but all three rode the bus and were alone when they were shot on the street. None was robbed.

“I’m afraid,” said Maria Maldonado, who lives near the scene of two of the shootings, about 300 yards apart. The other was less than a mile away.

Maldonado won’t let her 7-year-old son play in the yard.

“We don’t open the door or nothing. A lot of people are scared. I’m scared for my son, for the neighborhood,” she said Monday.

Seminole Heights is a working-class neighborhood northeast of downtown Tampa that’s slowly becoming gentrified. Run-down homes sit next to renovated, historic bungalows, and trendy restaurants have sprung up near auto body shops.

Residents and business owners say there are car burglaries and fights between kids, but they are not accustomed to anything like the violence that started Oct. 9.

Business owners report a downturn in recent days, as worried residents stay inside.

“We don’t know what’s next,” said Majed Foqahaa, owner of the M&M market.

He said two of the victims would come into the store and buy soda and snacks. Foqahaa said he has a concealed carry permit for a handgun. He keeps it at the store while he is working and carries it when he walks to his car at night.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said the city has 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.

“There aren’t a lot of facts, or evidence, yet,” Buckhorn said as he visited a block where one victim was killed.