A Florida police department is using horse patrols in a neighborhood that’s been plagued by homicides in recent weeks.
Officials in Tampa have been searching for the person – or people – responsible for shooting and killing four in the Seminole Heights neighborhood since October 9.
Police have said the shootings have happened with in close proximity of each other, aren’t robberies and could be the work of a serial killer.
The homicides have left residents scared and city officials frustrated because there hasn’t been an arrest, despite a reward of more than $100,000 for information to help solve the case.
The department has received some 1,100 tips.
Tampa police released new footage on Wednesday, showing the man wanted for last Tuesday’s murder of Ronald Felton. The video shows the suspect just moments before the 5am shooting
The mounted horse patrols in the neighborhood will begin Friday and extend through the weekend.
Last week, Tampa police released new video of man they believe is behind the murders.
Cops shared the new footage of a the suspect stalking the streets after a 60-year-old man was shot to death early Tuesday morning in the murder-plagued neighborhood.
Police in Florida have all but confirmed that the man responsible for killing Ronald Felton this week is also the same man who killed three people in a 10-day span last month.
Ronald Felton, 60, has been identified as the victim of last Tuesday’s shooting. He was on his way to volunteer with the homeless when the suspect came up behind him and shot him dead
Police Chief Brian Dugan says they haven’t been able to connect all four murders to one suspect yet, but they believe the suspect of last Tuesday’s shooting was at least responsible for the first murder on October 9 as well.
‘We can’t say this person has done all of the homicides,’ Dugan said. ‘But we are pretty convinced this person has committed at least two of them.’
On Wednesday, police released a video showing surveillance footage of the suspect in the first and fourth shootings.
They show a man of a similar build and gait, walking around the neighborhood with his hood pulled up.
‘That’s why we’re convinced, when you look at the (clothes) they way the person walks….we think that’s our suspect,’ Dugan said.
Police finally have a profile of the suspect. He’s described as a thin black male who is about 6′ to 6’2″ tall, with a light complexion.
Investigators believe that the suspect lives in the neighborhood, a working-class district that has been gentrifying.
Police ask asking anyone with information about a possible suspect to come forward.
The reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest has been raised to $91,000 thanks to funds donated from the FBI.
They also asked residents to check their gun safes to make sure their guns were accounted for, on the chance that a loved one is the killer and has been using one of their weapons.
Police investigate the scene of last Tuesday’s shooting above
Law enforcement briefly placed the neighborhood on lockdown while they searched for the suspect
The suspect is believed to live in the neighborhood, a working-class district that has been gentrifying
The map above shows where the four shootings have taken place in the neighborhood
Police have also ordered residents to keep their porch lights on between the hours of 6pm and 6am, since the killer strikes under the cover of darkness.
The most recent attack happened on Tuesday, at 4:51am.
Ronald Felton was gunned down as he crossed the street on the way to feed the homeless at a local church.
Police said the victim, a construction worker and father of three adult children, was crossing at Nebraska and Wilder when a man dressed in all black came up behind him and shot him.
His murder, in the city’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, is close to where three other people were murdered in apparently random shootings.
Benjamin Mitchell became the first victim on October 9, when he was shot dead after getting off a bus in the neighborhood at night.
Two days after Mitchell, 22, was shot, Monica Hoffa, 32, was gunned down. And on October 19, Anthony Naiboa, 20, was shot after taking the wrong bus home from his new job. Police patrolling nearby heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene to find Naiboa dead.
Benjamin Mitchell (pictured) was the first victim of the serial killer. He was gunned down on October 9, moments after getting off a bus
Two days later, Monica Hoffa (left) was also shot after getting off a bus. On October 22, Anthony Naiboa, 20 (right), was shot after taking the wrong bus home from his new job
The video also includes a clip of who believe is the same suspect, before an October 9 murder in the neighborhood (above)
The October 9 murder of Benjamin Mitchell was the first of three murders carried out in the span of 10 days. Police believe the same man may be responsible for the latest killing and last month’s murders