Tampa Double Homicide: Details Released

TAMPA, FL — The Tampa Police Department has announced the arrest of an 18-year-old man in connection with a Friday night double homicide. Police say Devon Arthurs faces two counts of first-degree murder.

Police say their investigation began around 5:28 p.m. May 19 when officers were called to the Green Planet Smoke Shop, 15325 Amberly Drive, about a man inside who was possibly armed. When police arrived, they spoke with Arthurs and learned he was armed at the time, an email from the agency said.

Arthurs “told two customers and an employee in the shop that they could not leave,” the email said. “The officers kept talking to Arthurs and he agreed to let the hostages leave and dropped his weapon.”

Police say Arthurs was taken into custody without incident. It was after he was in custody over the smoke shop incident, police say he directed them to a home inside The Hamptons, also in the 15300 block of Amberly Drive.

Police went inside the home and found two men dead from gunshot wounds. Concerns about possible explosives also brought out the Tampa Police bomb squad and Tampa Fire Rescue’s Hazmat team. Both teams worked into the night to make sure the condo was safe to enter.

Police say the incident appears to be isolated. Arthurs and the two victims, who are not being identified at this time, knew each and “appeared to have been residing together,” the email said.

Arthurs was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail early Saturday.

Further information is not being released at this time.

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Booking photo courtesy of the Tampa Police Department