TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Police Department has launched a website for those with information to submit tips regarding a shooting in Ybor City last Sunday.
The portal will allow people to submit text, photos and videos, which will then be sent directly to detectives. They added that based on current evidence, officials believe there were two more suspects who fired shots.
In a press conference Sunday afternoon, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said a suspect in the shooting, 22-year-old Tyrell Phillips, was charged with second-degree murder.
Phillips is in custody after two people died, one was seriously injured, and 15 others were shot following a fight that ended with gunshots during Halloween festivities. Officers responded to the shooting just before 3 a.m. on the 1600 block of East 7th Avenue.
The fight occurred in an area with several bars and clubs, and there were large numbers of late-night partiers in the area at the time, Bercaw said. Police were not immediately sure if the people involved in the fight were inside any of the bars before the shooting.
A video posted online shows people in Halloween costumes drinking and talking on the street when shots ring out, creating a stampede.
Some people toppled over metal tables and took cover behind them. Video from the aftermath showed police officers treating several people lying wounded on the ground.
“It was a disturbance or a fight between two groups. And in this fight between two groups, we had hundreds of innocent people involved that were in the way,” Bercaw said.
He did not provide details of the injuries suffered by the victims taken to area hospitals.
One of the victims was identified by his father as 14-year-old Elijah Wilson. His father, Emmitt Wilson, recounted seeing his son's body on the ground.
"It's painful, man, to see your child laying there," Emmitt Wilson told ABC Action News. "And there's nothing I can do but stand behind the yellow tape and just watch them take his body away. I can't go see him. This is my last time seeing him. It's, it's hard."
Many of the additional victims have been medically treated and released from the hospital. Five remain in the hospital, recovering from their injuries.
Investigators asked anyone with information that could assist in the investigation to call Tampa PD at 813-231-6130 or contact Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477).
