Tampa Police detectives are investigating two attacks in Ybor City that occurred less than 24 hours apart.
The first incident happened at 2:50 a.m. Sunday. Two men said they were walking home when they were jumped by a group near 19th and 5th.
"We didn't see it coming. They just jumped us," Manny Martinez said.
Both men suffered injuries.
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"I don't know if they hit me with something. (They) might have kicked me. Then, blood started coming down my shirt," Martinez said.
His friend, John Ciampoli, does not remember the attack.
"I got 6 stitches on my lip," Ciampoli said.
Ciampoli has trouble talking. He also received stitches on his ear.
"I don't think I said anything or did anything that would have caused anybody to assault me like that," Ciampoli said.
Later that night and two blocks away from where Ciampoli and Martinez were attacked, authorities said a cook was violently robbed. Dustin Lowe was waiting for a ride home. Detectives released new surveillance video, which they said, shows who beat up Lowe, hospitalizing him.
“That’s when we’re like 'oh wow' you know this…this might be bigger than just 1 incident," Martinez said.
Martinez and Ciampoli both can't help but think maybe the same men who attacked them, left Lowe unconscious.
“It’s shameful. I don’t know what compels people to just disseminate violence onto other people and to people they don’t know," Ciampoli said.
Tampa detectives said they are investigating both assaults and whether they are connected.
"We live in a crazy world now a days. You can’t really be safe anywhere anymore," Martinez said.
If you have any information about either case, contact the Tampa Police Department.
