Seminole Heights Killer: More FHP Troopers Arrive In Neighborhood

TAMPA, FL - Additional Florida Highway Patrol troopers will be arriving in Seminole Heights on Monday to help Tampa police with patrolling the neighborhood, FHP said. The extra FHP patrols started on Friday after Gov. Rick Scott announced that more troopers would be assigned to ensure the safety of Seminole Heights residents.

The deployment of FHP troopers is in addition to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's squad of agents assigned to neighborhood canvassing. FDLE also has agents assigned to vet leads and is providing analytical assistance. FDLE lab analysts continue to process numerous items of evidence. FDLE has also contributed $10,000 to the Crime Stoppers reward. The reward is now at $110,000.

"Safety is our top priority, and we are glad to provide additional state resources from the Florida Highway Patrol and FDLE to the Tampa Police Department to assist in their efforts. I have spoken with Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan and Mayor Bob Buckhorn to offer any resources they may need from the state of Florida," Scott said Thursday.

Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan told News Channel 8 that additional troopers allow Tampa police to also protect the rest of the city. “That’s what people need to realize, we are intense in one neighborhood, but we have the rest of the city,” said Dugan.

On Tuesday, Ronald Felton, an unemployed construction worker who was on his way to volunteer at a food bank, was gunned down on Nebraska Avenue about 5 a.m. Police arrived at the shooting scene within minutes, but the suspect escaped. Police say Felton's death is linked to three other killings in the neighborhood last month

The former "person of interest" in the Seminole Heights shootings is now considered a suspect, Dugan said. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, the police chief showed a video taken moments before Tuesday's shooting and police believe that person is also shown in a video taken in the area where the first shooting occurred on Oct. 9 . Benjamin Mitchell was shot and died from his wounds. The new video can be viewed here.

Dugan said police don't believe it is a coincidence that the same person was in the area of Tuesday morning's shooting and the Oct. 9 shooting.

Tampa police say they have received more than 3,600 tips.

“The amount of surveillance video that people have given us, it is just a very slow process that several people have to look at to make sure you are not missing anything. It has to be watched in real time, then you watch it over and over again,” said Dugan.

Over the last six weeks, Dugan said that every time the phone rings he has paused. “You just never know what to expect. There is part of the dread of ‘Let’s hope it is not another’ but it is also that hope of maybe, ‘We got the guy’,” said Dugan.

The Seminole Heights neighborhood has been on edge since the three shooting deaths occurred last month in the span of 11 days. Police say they have no motive, but authorities consider the four shootings to be related.

The first victim, Mitchell, 22, was waiting at the Route 9 bus stop on 15th Street on his way to see his girlfriend when he was shot. The body of Monica Hoffa, 32, was found on Oct. 13. Anthony Naiboa, a 20-year-old Middleton High School graduate, was shot and killed on a sidewalk at N 15th and E. Conover streets on Oct. 19.

Hoffa, a waitress at a local IHOP, was walking to a friend's home when she was shot. Her body was found in a vacant lot. Naiboa had mistakenly taken the wrong bus to return home from work and was walking to a bus stop on 15th Street when he was shot about 8 p.m. on Oct. 19.

Anyone with any information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873 (TIPS). The $100,000 figure will be reflected on digital billboards donated by both Clear Channel and Outfront Media Billboards.

Read the News Channel 8 story here.

Image via Tampa Police Department