By David Propper | New York Post
A suspect has been captured and charged in the Florida shooting during Halloween fun early Sunday that left two dead – including a 14-year-old boy — and more than a dozen wounded, police said.
Tyrell Stephen Phillips, 22, was charged with second-degree murder in the aftermath of the bloodshed, Tampa police announced Sunday afternoon.
Authorities have not identified the two fatal victims but were both males — ages 14 and 20.
One grieving father told WFLA his 14-year-old son Elijah Jaquan Wilson was one of the dead.
“I have lost my son, I have lost a second son to gun violence,” Emmitt Wilson told the station, adding, “2014, I lost my child. Now here it is, 2023, and my baby boy, he’s gone now from gun violence.”
ampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said during a press conference that a fight between two groups sparked the gunfire. One of the shooting victims died at the scene and the other succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Cops said another 16 victims were hospitalized, including 15 that were hit in the hail of bullets, but only five are still in the hospital recovering. The wounded victims ranged from 18-year-old to 27-year-old.
Overall, 18 people were injured.
Chief Bercaw said a criminal charge was leveled against Phillips quickly thanks to a slew of tips from the public.
“We make arrests quickly and with a sense of urgency,” Bercaw said. “If you commit a crime in Tampa, you are going to pay for it and you are going to be charged.
He said during the press conference that police were “looking at potential other shooters.”
The shooting happened in the Ybor City neighborhood just before 3 a.m. where several bars and clubs are located. Hundreds of people were on the street because many establishments just closed, a police spokesperson said.
Many Halloween revelers were in costumes, drinking and chatting on the street when about a dozen gunshots sounded off. Then another eight shots went off a few seconds later, according to footage posted online.
Police treated several people lying on the ground from wounds, video of the aftermath shows.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor decried how another shooting in the country led to multiple victims.
“We’ve got to say, as a country, that enough is enough,” she said during the afternoon press conference.
With Post wires