Tampa police arrest man in fatal credit union shooting and robbery
Tampa police have arrested a man in connection with a shooting death that occurred during a robbery on Friday outside of a Tampa credit union.
Jeremiah Harris Jr., 20, was arrested late Wednesday night on charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery, Tampa police said in a news release Thursday morning.
The shooting occurred in the parking lot of the Suncoast Credit Union at 1920 E Hillsborough Ave. Police were summoned to the credit union at about 6 a.m. Friday to a report of a man lying in the drive-through and not moving. Responding officers found a man in his early 50s with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he died, police said.
Police said Harris also committed an armed robbery at the same credit union on Feb. 21 and he has been charged in connection with that case, too. In that case, police said Harris robbed a man at the ATM. Harris pointed a gun at the man and said “If you don’t give it to me, I’ll kill you,” according to the department’s news release. The victim in that case was not injured.
Police said they used witness statements and surveillance video to track Harris to an apartment in Meridian Pointe, where he “was known to associate with the resident,” the news release states.
Police got a search warrant for the apartment and specialists were able to match fingerprints from the crime scene and the apartment to Harris. Police said Harris admitted to investigators that he had committed the crimes.
Harris was taken to the Orient Road jail. Bail information about him was not available Thursday morning.
”The dedicated work of our officers and skilled investigations of our detectives and fingerprint specialists undoubtedly led to a swift arrest in this case,” interim Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement. “While this dangerous criminal cannot harm another member of our community, our thoughts remain with the victim’s family. We hope this arrest brings a small sense of comfort in their time of mourning.”
Police have not released the name of the man who was killed.
