Police in Tampa today released extended surveillance video of a person of interest who they believe may have some knowledge of the three slayings over 11 days that have terrorized the residents of Seminole Heights.
The surveillance footage is at times in color and is captured from various angles.
Police are zeroing in on the person of interest who’s walking and, at times, running through the street “very close to the first homicide” where, at around 9 p.m. on Oct. 9, college student Brian Mitchell was shot and killed at a bus stop near his home.
Two days later, 32-year-old Monica Hoffa was shot in the evening while attempting to meet up with a friend, police say.
Two days elapsed before Hoffa’s remains turned up in a vacant lot located at New Orleans Avenue East.
Then, on Oct. 19 at 8 p.m., Anthony Naiboa, 20, was shot to death on North 15th Street as he got off a bus at the wrong stop.
Naiboa’s death marked three slayings in less than two weeks. Police say they believe the killings are linked.
“We believe this is the same person we saw walking just moments earlier,” Police Chief Brian Dugan said today during a news conference. “He is running in the other direction. … We believe this is the same person, once again, running away from the scene of the shooting.”
In multiple clips, the slender individual who is wearing pants and a hooded windbreaker is witnessed flipping a cellphone with the right hand.
Then in another chunk of the almost two minutes of footage, the same person is looking at the phone.
Dugan cautioned the public that the reason to pursue the person in the video is to drum up leads in a case that has stalled.
“We are not saying this person is a suspect,” Dugan said. “We believe this person saw or heard something that could be a key to solving these murders. We believe this person has ties to the neighborhood.”
The first video, released Oct. 17, showed the same individual walking down a street on the same night Mitchell died.
Dugan said the original pixilated video was significant and, “in many ways, the best video that we have” because it shows the person of interest “very near the scene of the shooting.”
But the release of more video of the same person of interest, whom Dugan repeatedly referred to as “he,” doesn’t mean the individual walking and running near Mitchell’s crime scene is necessarily the killer.
He clarified to ABC News that the person of interest is not necessarily a man.
Dugan also stressed that “we believe that this person has ties to the neighborhood and we want to speak to him.”
Dugan wonders why the person has yet to come forward to answer their questions despite the video’s release.
“Why, after this long; we’ve had this video out there for so long. Why has he not come forward,” he said.
Dugan then took time to evaluate the person of interest’s attire.
“Look at the style of clothing,” he said. “Is it a rain jacket? Is it a long thin T-shirt style hoody?
“Someone has to know who wears clothing like that,” referring to the person’s hooded top and tight-fitting pants.
“These are questions I can’t answer, but someone who knows this individual walking in this video and later running from the area could possibly give us answers,” he said.
When pressed by reporters today, however, Dugan attempted to answer the questions.
“I’ve come up with four reasons why this person is running: One, they may be late for dinner. Two, they’re out exercising. Three, they heard gunshots. And number four: They just murdered Benjamin Mitchell.”
ABC News’ Victor Oquendo contributed to this report.
