A day after the fourth slaying in Tampa's Seminole Heights neighborhood, police released new videoof someone they are now calling a suspect.
Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said the man in the video taken moments before the slaying of Ronald Felton on Tuesday is the same suspect in a video captured before the Oct. 9 slaying of Benjamin Mitchell.
Based on the suspect's casual manner, Dugan said, he must have a switch that goes off or an urge he can't control.
"Look at how they walk, look how they're flipping the phone, paying attention to their phone and at some point they are able to put that away, hit a switch and gun someone down," Dugan said.
Police are looking for a black male, 6 feet to 6-foot-2, with a thin build and light complexion.
Dugan says police are not calling the suspect a serial killer but are convinced he is involved in at least two of the four slayings.
“We still can’t say that they have done all of the homicides,” he said. “But this is our suspect. We need to speak to this person.”
Police believe someone in the community must be able to recognize the suspect in the grainy video.
“We need someone who is thoughtful, cares and has the heart and the fortitude and the bravery to step forward and tell us who this person is and give us the identity," Dugan said.
Law enforcement spent Tuesday canvassing the Seminole Heights neighborhood, shutting down streets and knocking on doors. No arrests were made.
Authorities have received more than 2,300 tips including 450 since yesterday. They are also going over hours and hours of video, Dugan said.
A reward for information leading to the killer's arrest has increased to $91,000.
“If I could get everyone to focus on the person in that video, the way they walk, their manerisms, their body language,” Dugan said. “This murder was yesterday at 4:51 in the morning. Is there someone you know that should have been home, should have been at work, should have been anywhere and they weren’t there at that time?”
Residents and police have been on edge since Mitchell was shot to death on Oct. 9. Two days later, 32-year-old Monica Hoffa, was slain. And on Oct. 19, Anthony Naiboa, 20, was killed after taking the wrong bus home from his new job.
“I don’t sleep at night, how could I” Dugan said. “I feel for this neighborhood. I feel for the people who live there. I feel for the businesses.”
All of the October victims were either getting on or off a city bus, or were at a bus stop when they were shot, police said. It was unclear if Tuesday's victim was near a bus stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyfTvCg_M90
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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