Cops Release New Footage in Florida Murder Spree

'At this point, everything is a clue'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 27, 2017 5:14 PM CDT

Police in Florida released new surveillance footage of a "person of interest" in three murders that occurred over a 10-day span in a Tampa neighborhood and that have some fearing a serial killer on the loose, CBS News reports. The footage shows a person walking toward the spot where the first victim, Benjamin Mitchell, was killed then running away from the same spot seconds after the shooting. According to WFTS, police chief Brian Dugan says the person in the video isn't a suspect and may have seen something "that could be a key to solving these murders." "I have come up with four reasons why this person is running," Dugan says. "One, they may be late for dinner. Two, they're out exercising. Three, they heard gunshots. And number four, they just murdered Benjamin Mitchell."

Dugan points out the person in the video appears to be flipping a cellphone. "That might be a habit of this person," CNN quotes the chief as saying. "At this point, everything is a clue, everything is a speculation." Police have been going through hours of surveillance video and asking residents with security cameras to hand over their footage. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn says authorities have few leads and no motive so far. The Tampa Bay Times has put together a moving profile of the three victims—22-year-old Mitchell, 32-year-old Monica Hoffa, and 20-year-old Anthony Naiboa—who had little connection to each other until they were killed near bus stops in the Seminole Heights neighborhood by an as yet unknown shooter. (More murder stories.)

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