New Tampa residents pack meeting to voice fears, concerns about recent violence

TAMPA — Some expressed concern for their families. Others were looking for answers.

More than 150 people packed in from wall to wall at the New Tampa Center Monday night to hear from the Tampa Police Department about a series of deadly shootings in the area in recent days.

A panel of officials including police Chief Lee Bercaw and Tampa City Council member Luis Viera addressed questions and comments from the audience. Longtime residents of the area took the mic to voice fears about what the violence might mean for their community.

Bercaw said ongoing investigations into the shootings have led detectives to believe they are unrelated and were not random crimes. He said each case involves people who are known to each other and some are not from the Tampa Bay area.

Officials called the meeting after a spate of violence that began June 17, when a man later identified as 24-year-old Kyle Prisco was fatally shot on Regents Park Drive, just east of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. No arrests have been made.

On Friday, two people were found fatally shot on New Tampa Boulevard. No arrests have been made in that case, either.

Also Friday, the decomposing body of a man was found on Dona Michelle Drive near New Tampa Nature Park. Bercaw said Monday night that police had made an arrest in the case but did not elaborate. After the meeting, police issued a news release announcing the arrest of Andre Aris, 29 on first-degree murder with a firearm and other charges. Aris is accused of killing the man and stealing his car.

Early Sunday morning, Jacksonville rapper Charles Jones, who goes by the stage name Julio Foolio, was among four people shot in a hotel parking lot at 11606 N McKinley Drive, just south of the University of South Florida campus. Jones died from his wounds. The other three people were expected to survive, police said.

Officials said Monday that investigators believe the parties involved were from the Jacksonville area.

Despite the recent violence, Deputy police Chief Calvin Johnson said New Tampa is safe. Criminals from other cities sometimes seek out “good” neighborhoods to commit interpersonal violence under the radar, because they believe police in the area won’t go looking for them — but that won’t happen here, said Johnson, who is the department’s chief of community outreach.

“They’re going to understand that we’ve got a great police department,” Johnson said. “We take what occurs very seriously. We’re trying to get folks time in prison.”

The area has experienced about seven homicides related to gun violence over the past month, according to Johnson. The past week was an anomaly, he said.

Some residents said they were unhappy with the lack of police presence in the area after the shootings. Bercaw said the department is in the process of hiring 30 new police officers with grant money but in the meantime, they are stretched thin over the city.

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New Tampa resident Darnell Eason is a retired New York police officer, and the response so far seems lackluster to him, he said.

“You never see them, even off duty,” Eason said. “They’re just not there, which is troublesome for me. I’m hyper-focused on law enforcement and when I don’t see them, that’s a problem.”

Several elected officials attended the meeting including U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee, a Hillsborough Republican, state Sen. Jay Collins, a Tampa Republican, and state Rep. Fentrice Driskell, a Tampa Democrat.

Former Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, who is running this year to get his job back after Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him, was also in the audience and said he was impressed by the showing New Tampa residents made.

“This isn’t political,” Warren said. “You have a room full of Democrats and Republicans, and all for the same reason, because we all go home nights like these and hug our kids a little bit tighter.”

Bercaw asked anyone with information about the shootings report it to the police department. He also said that New Tampa residents should get involved with their neighborhood watches to help police prevent violent crimes like the ones from the past week.