Seminole Heights Shootings: Florida Governor Calls Mayor, Police Chief Offering Help

TAMPA, FL - Gov. Rick Scott has contacted Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and interim Police Chief Brian Dugan to offer the assistance of state law enforcement in the search for a gunman responsible for three shooting deaths in Seminole Heights in recent weeks.

Dugan said at a Wednesday press conference that Scott called him on Monday to say that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol are available to help in the homicide cases. Buckhorn also said Scott called him, making a similar offer.

At a special roll call held at Giddens Park in Seminole Heights, Buckhorn and Dugan addressed police officers before they started their shifts. The mayor asked that the officers find the killer and “bring his head to me.”

The Seminole Heights neighborhood has been on edge since the three deaths occurred in the span of 11 days. Police say they have no motive and the victims did not know each other, but authorities consider the shootings to be related.

Anthony Naiboa, the latest victim, was a 20-year-old Middleton High School graduate who was shot and killed on a sidewalk at N 15th and E. Conover streets on Thursday. Prior to Naiboa's death, 22-year-old Benjamin Edward Mitchell and Monica Hoffa, 32, were found shot to death. Mitchell died on Oct. 9 and Hoffa’s body was found four days later.

Police have released a surveillance video of a thin person wearing a hood walking along a neighborhood street at the time of the first shooting on Oct. 9. The person, who appears to be a man, has not been called a suspect, but police have said they want to speak with him. The video can be viewed here.

Police say they brought in two people who they believed might be the person in the video. They were questioned and later released.

Police are hoping to obtain more surveillance footage from the neighborhood. Business owners and residents in Seminole Heights were reminded to register with a program that allows them to share videos from their surveillance cameras with law enforcement. To join the program, click here.

The police department will keep information provided through the program confidential and not disclose the information to third parties, according to the department’s website.

“I would like to stress again that if you have a home video camera system and we have not reached out to you, please reach out to us and we will come see you. The concern is somebody knows something and is not aware of it,” Dugan said.

Image via Tampa Police Department; 2nd photo via City of Tampa