Reward increased for information on Seminole Heights murders

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has increased its reward offering to up to $25,000 for information on the string of murders in Southeast Seminole Heights in Tampa.

Benjamin Mitchell, Monica Hoffa and Anthony Naiboa were shot within days of each other and within yards of each other.

Interim Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said he goes “from frustration to anger” when thinking about the unsolved murders, during a press conference Friday.

While there are no motives and no connections between the victims, except that they all rode the city bus, the residents are working to take back their neighborhood.

A candlelight march and vigil was held Sunday night in honor of Mitchell, 22, Hoffa, 32 and Naiboa, 20. Volunteer Guardian Angels escorted people to help them feel safer, according to Bay News 9.

“Let’s show them that we’re not afraid and that we own these streets,” said Naiboa’s stepmother Maria Rodriguez, according to Bay News 9. “I want everybody to say it together, ‘We own these streets! We own this community!’”

Hundreds came out to the streets in their memory, some holding ballons.

“It’s so senseless, so painful for us,” said Casimar Naiboa, the 20-year-old’s father. “We just want justice.”

Naiboa had called police after his son didn’t come home Thursday. Police had to tell him that he was the third shooting victim.

Hoffa’s body was found on Oct. 13, just two days after police believe she was shot in the 1000 block of East New Orleans Avenue. Mitchell was killed on North 15th Street and East Frierson Avenue on Oct. 9, just a couple hundred yards from where Naiboa was killed.

Police released surveillance video the day Hoffa’s body was found, hoping that the person in the video could help solve Mitchell’s murder. The person was walking down a street near where the 22-year-old was shot.

Dugan last week had urged residents to turn on their porch lights and “not tolerate this type of terrorism in this neighborhood.”

“We’re not going to be held hostage by whoever’s doing this,” he said.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 9:09 AM with the headline "Reward increased for information on Seminole Heights murders."