Has Tampa's Mysterious Killer Struck Again?

TAMPA, FL - A shooting death in Seminole Heights early Tuesday morning is likely the fourth victim of a killer that Tampa police have been hunting since Oct. 9. Police say a 60-year-old man was shot from behind and killed on N. Nebraska Avenue, his body found in the roadway after police responded to reports of shots fired at 4:51 a.m.

The Seminole Heights neighborhood has been terrorized by three unsolved shooting deaths last month. A large police presence in the neighborhood has thus far failed to catch the killer.

Police Chief Brian Dugan identified the victim as Ronald Felton. Felton was crossing Nebraska Avenue to meet someone when a man came up from behind and shot him. Police have the name of the person Felton was meeting and consider him a witness, according to multiple reports.

"I believe the (suspect) lives in the neighborhood," Dugan said. The suspect was described as a black male with a thin build and light complexion, 6-foot to 6-foot-2, dressed in all black and wearing a black baseball cap. The suspect was armed with a large black pistol, police said.

A local resident said Felton volunteered at the New Season Apostolic Ministries food bank, 5100 N. Nebraska Ave, near the site of the shooting. Felton was walking to the church to volunteer when he was shot. The resident said he had been volunteering at the church for several years.

Dugan said officers arrived at the shooting scene quickly. A witness told police if they had arrived five seconds earlier they could have stopped the shooting.

A perimeter was set up Tuesday morning from Osborne to Hillsborough and Nebraska to N. 15th St. With the help of FBI agents, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies, Tampa officers went house to house gathering information. Police also asked residents and businesses to review their surveillance cameras and share the video with detectives.

Eight schools in the area were placed on lock-in, which allows only limited access to the campuses. Streets were blocked for hours.

The police chief also asked local residents if they own a gun, try to locate it. If it is missing, Dugan said call police.

Robert Clark, who was at a laundromat near the shooting scene, told the Tampa Bay Times he heard gunfire and saw a man running east.

"I’m getting ready to put another 75 cents in the machine when I hear a ‘Boom, boom,’" Clark said. "Five of them. I see a man lying in that street and another running to that road. When I got to the man, he was laid out bad."

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 three shootings to be related. Dugan has avoided using the term serial killer to describe the suspect despite police saying all three previous shootings were random.

The first victim, Benjamin Mitchell, 22, was shot and died from his wounds on Oct. 9. 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.

On Oct. 9, Mitchell was waiting at the Route 9 bus stop on 15th Street on his way to see his girlfriend. He was shot and killed next to the bus stop about 9 p.m. 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. The three shootings occurred within a mile of each other.

A reward of $41,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.

Read the Tampa Bay Times story here.

Image via AP Photo/Chris O'Meara; 2nd image via city of Tampa