Page 38 - DemoFlorida Sentinel 3-5-21

Crime
Teenage Murder Suspect Surrenders To Police
Teenager Linked
To 3 Murders, Other
Violent Crimes
The search is continuing for a teenager linked to a fatal shooting last week. The Hills- borough County Sheriff’s Of- fice has obtained a warrant for his arrest.
Last Wednesday, deputies were alerted to a person being down while working on an unrelated call for service. When they arrived at the in- tersection of E. 124th Avenue and N. 9th Street, they located the victim.
The unidentified Black teenager was discovered out- side of a duplex. It was deter-
Two Young Men Killed In East Tampa Shooting
Detectives are currently in- vestigating a double shooting. Both victims died as a result of the shooting.
According to the Tampa Police Department, shortly before 7:30 p.m., on Monday evening, police were dis- patched to the 8100 block of N. Brooks Street. When the officers arrived, they discov- ered an 18-year-old Black man in a black sedan. The man was suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was trans- ported to a nearby hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries. Police learned that there was also a second vic- tim.
Just over an hour, dis- patched received information that another gunshot victim had arrived at a local hospital. That victim, who was 27- years-old, also died as a result of his injuries.
During the investigation, police learned that two groups had been involved in an alter- cation earlier in the same area. The groups left and later returned with weapons and exchanged gunfire.
The investigation into the double murder is continuing.
Anyone with information about the murder is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 1-800-873- TIPS, or report anonymously on line at www.crimestopper- stb.com.
around 8:30 p.m.
The deputies discovered
that the victim was suffering from upper body trauma.
Information gathered during the investigation into the fatal shooting led detec- tives to then 16-year-old Kanye Vasnon Mordica. He is currently being sought for second-degree murder with a firearm. Mordica turned himself in to police on his 17th birthday, February 24th. He was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm.
A 19-year-old Tampa teenager has been arrested and is facing several charges. He was arrested on outstand- ing warrants last week by the Romulus Police Department, in Romulus, Michigan.
Jerome James Knight
was returned to Hillsborough County on March 1st. Knight has been charged with 3 counts of first-degree murder; 3 counts of robbery with a firearm; 2 counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle; and 3 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
According to the Hillsbor- ough County Sheriff’s Office, the first murder took place just before midnight on De- cember 22, 2020, in Progress Village. Deputies responded after someone called about a suspicious vehicle at the Progress Village Recreation Center.
When deputies arrived, they discovered a dead man inside the vehicle. He suffered from upper body trauma.
On January 19, 2021, deputies responded to a Circle K Store, 11606 Balm Riverview Road. When they arrived, they were told that the victim became engaged in a verbal altercation with a Black man while inside the store.
The altercation turned physical between the victim and the unknown man. At some point, the man retrieved a handgun from his vehicle and shot one round into the front passenger side window of the victim’s car. He then fled the scene.
The victim told police that at the time of the shooting, two young children were in- side the vehicle. No one was injured.
Detectives believe the shooting at the Circle K ap- pears to be a random act of vi- olence.
On January 21, 2021, deputies responded to a dou-
JEROME KNIGHT ... Charged with three counts of murder
ble murder in the 100 block of Pelican Creek Circle, in Riverview. Just after mid- night, deputies discovered the bodies of two victims outside a business at the location. Both suffered from upper body trauma.
Detectives investigating the murders believe all three allegedly occurred during al- leged drug transactions where the victims were killed during the exchange.
As the investigations con- tinued, detectives gathered information that linked Knight to all of the incidents. They obtained arrest warrants on the pending charges.
Knight was located on February 6, 2021, in Romu- lus, Michigan and taken into custody on an active warrant for aggravated assault and shooting into an occupied ve- hicle. He was returned to Hillsborough County and booked into the Orient Road Jail. He is currently being held without bond.
Chad Chronister, Hills- borough County Sheriff said, “Despite Jerome Knight’s attempts to flee rather than face the consequences for his violent crimes, our detectives were able to find him and bring him to justice with the help of additional law en- forcement agencies. As his ac- tions have shown, this is a very violent individual.”
KANYE VASNON MORDICA
mined that he suffered upper body trauma, and was pro- nounced dead at the scene,
UNCLE SANDY
The harder you work for something, 3, 14, 29, 47, 55, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it, 8, 19, 32, 44, 61.
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