'Concerning Manifestos' Found At Home Of Tampa Man Arrested In Killing

TAMPA, FL — Tampa police have made an arrest in the shooting death of a man whose body was discovered beneath an underpass at Hillsborough Avenue and Dale Mabry Highway Sunday around 1:30 a.m.

Late Wednesday night, Tampa police arrested 30-year-old Timothy McGovern of North Palmetto Lane in Northeast Tampa and charged him first first-degree murder.

"I have no doubt that the detailed investigation completed by our detectives and their commitment to finding justice in this — and every case — stopped this person before he could take another life," said Tampa Police Chief Mary O'Connor.

See related story: Man Found Shot To Death Beneath Tampa Underpass

Officers at the scene interviewed witnesses and recovered shell casings from the scene, O'Connor said. The 9mm casings were then entered into the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network for comparison to casings found at other crime scenes.

In this case, a preliminary link was discovered between the casings from Sunday's shooting and those recovered from an unrelated case four hours earlier when a white man fired a gun into the water off Bayshore Boulevard, she said.

A witness said the shooter was riding a bicycle on Bayshore when he stopped and approached the witness and her friend. He told them, "There's my target," before pulling a gun from his waistband and firing into the water.

The witness and her friend ran from the area and reported the incident to the police while the bicyclist continued to fire into the water.

Investigators found surveillance video along Bayshore Boulevard that showed the man riding his bicycle north shortly after the shots were fired. They also recovered 9mm casings that they entered into the NIBIN.

"Thankfully, no one was struck by a bullet in this case. And even if shooting into water may not seem like a big deal, these citizens gave us the crucial link to solving the homicide," O'Connor said.

The NIBIN match was quickly made and homicide detectives and plain-clothed officers began conducting surveillance around the city, she said.

On Tuesday night, a Tampa police officer saw McGovern riding a bike on West Hillsborough Avenue, less than a mile from the underpass where the man was found fatally shot.

Detectives interviewed McGovern, who admitted he was the person in the video. He said he fired the gun into the water off Bayshore Boulevard to "test" it. McGovern also told detectives that he had previous encounters with the shooting victim. He said he stabbed the victim during another encounter on July 4. McGovern told police that, when he saw the victim walking to the underpass, he decided to shoot him.

Detectives searched McGovern's home and found the 9mm handgun used in the shooting, which had been reloaded.

Detectives are still combing through items found during the search, including "concerning" manifestos.

"The efficient, quickly conducted police work across all aspects of the department undoubtedly made our community safer," O'Connor said.

McGovern is being held at the Hillsborough County Jail without bail.