TAMPA: US police arrested a suspected serial killer on Tuesday who faces charges of murdering four people over a period of several weeks in Tampa, Florida.
The murders took place between Oct. 9 and Nov. 14 in a seven-block area of the city’s working-class Seminole Heights neighborhood, prompting the offer of a $100,000 reward for information to help solve the case.
Howell Emmanuel Donaldson III, aged 24, was arrested after police received a tip that he had a firearm at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant where he worked.
Police Chief Brian Dugan said Donaldson handed a co-worker a handgun and left the McDonald’s to go to a check-cashing business. When he returned, officers were waiting for him.
He was taken to Tampa police headquarters, and “after several hours, (police) had enough information to charge Donaldson with all four of the homicides that have occurred in the Seminole Heights area,” the department said in a statement.
The statement did not mention whether or not the tipster would receive the $100,000 reward, which police previously said came from law enforcement organizations and private donations.
Dugan said at a news conference on Tuesday that Donaldson would be charged with four counts of first-degree murder, which can carry the death penalty in Florida.
“Fifty-one days ago, I said this was a struggle between good and evil,” Mayor Bob Buckhorn told the same news conference.
“Well tonight, goodness has won. Tonight, in the battle between darkness and light, light has won,” he said.
Florida Governor Rick Scott hailed the “the relentless effort” by law enforcement and Tampa’s mayor.
“It is unimaginable what the families of these victims are going through,” Scott said in a statement.
“We will work to ensure that they receive the justice they deserve.”
The victims were Benjamin Mitchell, 22, Monica Hoffa, 32, Anthony Naiboa, 20, and Ronald Felton, 60.
They were alone on the street at the time they were killed, and were shot dead for no apparent reason. None of them were robbed.
After striking, the killer melted into the night, eluding police even after patrols were stepped up. His apparent knowledge of the neighborhood’s ins and outs led to suspicions that he lived there.
After the killings began, police asked locals not to leave home alone after dark, urged them to keep their porch lights on and to hand over any security camera footage they may have of suspicious activity.