Tampa - Monday October 30, 2023: 22-year-old Tyrell Stephen Phillip has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder with a firearm in connection with the mass shooting that erupted during Halloween festivities early Sunday in the Tampa.
Two people were killed and 18 injured, police said.
Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said Phillip was arrested in Tampa later on Sunday.
However immediately after the shooting, during a news conference at the scene Chief Bercaw said were at least two shooters who opened fire just before 3 a.m. in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa. And then authorities said at least one other suspect was being sought.However on Sunday afternoon when the Chief announced Phillip's arrest, he did not not immediately say whether they were seeking anyone else.
The early morning fight occurred in an area with several bars and clubs that was once the center of Tampa’s cigar industry. In more recent years, the area has been known for its lively nightlife, and Tampa police spokeswoman Jonee Lewis said “hundreds” of people were on the streets at the time of Sunday's shootings because numerous nightspots had just closed.
“It was a disturbance or a fight between two groups. And in this fight between two groups we had hundreds of innocent people involved that were in the way,” Chief Bercaw said. He did not provide details of the injuries suffered by the victims taken to area hospitals. Authorities later said most of those hurt were treated and released. Police are still investigating the reason for the fight between the two groups, he said.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, a former city police chief, lamented that Tampa was the focus of national attention for “yet another shooting in our country.”
“We've got to say, as a country, that enough is enough,” she said.
As of Monday morning police had not yet released the names of those killed, but Emmitt Wilson said his 14-year-old son, Elijah, was one of the fatalities. Wilson came to the scene Sunday after getting a call that his son was a victim.
“It’s madness to me. I don’t even feel like I’m here right now,” Wilson said. “I hope the investigators do their job.”
Video posted online shows people, many in Halloween costumes, drinking and talking on the street when about a dozen shots ring out followed seconds later by about eight more. A stampede ensued, with some people toppling over metal tables and taking cover behind them. Video from the aftermath shows police officers treating several people lying wounded on the ground.