AndrewBlakeTampa, Florida – The mayor of Tampa ordered police officers on October 25 to bring him the head of the serial killer that is terrorizing his city.
“You guys go hunt him down. And bring his head to me, all right?” Mayor Bob Buckhorn ordered the police in a video aired by NBC News. “Let’s get it done.”
“We are going to hunt this son of a b**** down until we catch him,” Buckhorn told the police, according to the New York Post.
Since October 9, three people have been shot and killed while walking alone, all within a 1-mile radius of the Seminole Heights neighborhood.
There is a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
“I think the issue is potentially somebody knows something but they may not realize it,” Interim Police Chief Brian Dugan said, according to the New York Post.
The Tampa police chief announced he would be out patrolling on Halloween in an effort to calm the city’s residents.
“I’m going to go out there, I’ll be personally on patrol, and you know what — if somebody wants to walk with me they can walk with me. I’ll walk with their family and get candy with them,” Dugan told reporters. “I might even take some of their candy.”
Police have been escorting to school children who live near the neighborhood where the shootings occurred.
The three victims didn’t know each other, they all rode the bus, and were each alone when they were shot.
Police said they have a person of interest, based on grainy video surveillance.
The video showed a fuzzy image of a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt walking not far from where the killings occurred.
Police in Tampa are coordinating with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The Tampa police have also consulted the FBI, and have reached out to St. Petersburg Police Department for help in the case, according to the New York Daily News.
Residents have received specific instructions from the Tampa Police not to walk anywhere alone, and to leave their front porch lights on.
In fact, police have been going door-to-door handing out light bulbs to those who may need them, according to ABC News.