Halloween was extra scary this year for residents of one Tampa neighborhood, even prompting the Mayor and police officers to join trick-or-treaters. Everyone, including adults, are encouraged not to walk alone at night and to travel in large groups.

What would cause such a reaction? There were three murders in a span of 11 days in October in the Seminole Heights neighborhood, causing local authorities and other experts to believe it could be work of a serial killer.

The first victim, Benjamin Mitchell, was shot and killed on October 9th at a bus stop near his home. Monica Hoffa, the second victim, was found dead in a vacant parking lot only half a mile from where the first victim was killed. She was killed on October 11th. On October 19th, Anthony Naiboa was murdered after he accidentally got off the wrong bus and ended up in Seminole Heights. All three were shot without any motive, and no connection has been found between the victims. Thus, the killings seem completely random. This also makes finding the killer more difficult.

The Tampa Police Department has released video from home surveillance systems taken around the time of one of the murders. The footage is grainy and mostly black and white, and it has almost raised more questions than given answers. People commenting on the video couldn’t seem to agree on the person’s age, gender, or even exactly what they were wearing. In the longer video that was released a few days later, you can see why the person in the video is a person of interest (police are not calling them a suspect at this time). They are seen walking down the street toward the area of the murder, and then minutes later they are running very quickly in the opposite direction.

Here is a longer video that the police released last week in hopes that it would help them get more information:

We hope whoever is responsible for terrorizing this neighborhood will be stopped and peace will return to this community soon.

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