Investigators are continuing to investigate possible links between several random murders that took place in Tampa, Florida over the past two weeks, and although it is too early to tell whether or not the killings were executed under the same motive, officials are not ruling out the prospect that they may have a serial killer on their hands.
On October 9 report of a shooting that killed a man who had been waiting for a bus came into the Tampa Police Department. Victim Benjamin Mitchell, 22, was reportedly headed out from his nearby home, for the night, when he was reportedly ambushed at around 9 p.m. On October 11, a mysterious shooting that was recorded ten blocks away from the killing two days prior took the life of Monica Caridad Hoffa, 32. Her body was recovered in a city-owned grassy plot of land. Then on October 19, the body of an autistic man named Anthony Taino Naiboa was found approximately 100 yards away from the bus stop Mitchell was found dead at. Naiboa had reportedly wound up in the area after getting lost on the bus.
While authorities are yet to have established that there is a connection between the three killings, they all seemingly occurred without reason and took place within an 11-day span in the Seminole Heights neighborhood. The local community pulled together for a march and rally to call attention to the incidents over the weekend, and police have since activated plans to monitor school bus stops.Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan has asked families to help expedite the capture of any possible suspects by making themselves more visible to the public as opposed to locking themselves away out of fear.
“We need everyone to come out of their homes at night, turn on their porch lights, and just not tolerate this type of terrorism,” Dugan said during a press conference he held to update Tampa on developments related to the shootings.
