Current:Home > MyA Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them. -TradeCircle
A Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them.
View
Date:2025-04-15 00:25:11
Correction: An early version of this story provided an incorrect location for the casino the victims were visiting.
A Florida couple is grateful to be alive after two masked men attacked, robbed and shot them as they returned home from a date night at a casino, according to authorities.
The ambush happened at 5 a.m. on Aug. 2 outside a home in Riverview, Florida after the couple spent the evening at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told USA TODAY on Friday. Two people were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds that morning.
Tristin Wright, 36, and Marcus Jenkins, 34, have been arrested in connection with the shooting, according to the department. Jenkins has been charged with attempted murder, but both men face several robbery, firearm and battery charges, the spokesperson said. Police are also currently looking for a third suspect.
USA TODAY was working to track down the men's attorneys, if they have them. None are listed for them in court records.
Gunshot victims detail attack
Kim Chambliss and her boyfriend, Val Delacruz, spoke to WTVT about the attack and how they are recovering from the shooting.
"I hear another gunshot and my first thought was 'They've killed him.' I was hysterical, I screamed and cried," Chambliss told the TV station about what she thought when the robbers shot Delacruz.
She talked about how shocking the attack was, saying "we're just average people who are out having a good time, who love each other."
"And to know that we didn't even realize that people were following us every step of the way − it's scary. It's scary," she told the station.
Five gunshots were fired during the robbery, the Miami Herald reported, citing Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies.
Ring camera caught shooting on video
Chambliss said the two men surrounded her and Delacruz's car and demanded money, WTVT reported.
"I ran and I fell in the door and the other guy came out and shot me again for the third time in my left leg," Delacruz told the TV station.
Ring camera footage captured the entire situation, even showing Delacruz being shot in both legs before pleading to the masked men who were standing over him, according to WTVT. The men drove away once the couple's neighbors walked outside.
The couple stayed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for several hours and left after Delacruz won $3,300 on a slot machine and cashed out, the Miami Herald reported, citing the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
'We're just average people'
Investigators arrested Jenkins and Wright after surveillance video showed them watching the couple at the casino in Tampa, Florida for two hours before following them home, WTVT reported.
The attack happened on the one night a month the couple makes time for a date. "We don't get to do it often just because we both work extremely hard," Chambliss told the station.
Delacruz said he is "normally aware" of his surroundings or "would notice if someone was following" him, the TV station reported.
"We've always felt safe in our home. Safe in the neighborhood," Chambliss said. "To have that taken away (is) to have just such an insecure feeling."
veryGood! (2754)
Related
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Zimbabwe opposition figure gets suspended sentence after nearly 2 years in pretrial detention
- Ambassador responds to call by Evert and Navratilova to keep women’s tennis out of Saudi Arabia
- Ava DuVernay gets her 'Spotlight' with 'Origin,' a journalism movie about grief and racism
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- Virginia Senate panel votes to reject Youngkin nominations of parole board chair, GOP staffer
- Charles Osgood: CBS News' poet-in-residence
- Iran executes 4 convicted of plotting with Israeli intelligence to attack defense factory, state media say
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- Andrew Tate loses his appeal to ease judicial restrictions as human trafficking case continues
Ranking
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- Biden will go to Michigan to meet with United Auto Workers members
- Chita Rivera, Broadway's 'First Great Triple Threat,' dies at 91
- A grainy sonar image reignites excitement and skepticism over Earhart’s final flight
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- ACLU warns Supreme Court that lower court abortion pill decisions relied on patently unreliable witnesses
- Watch SpaceX launch of NASA International Space Station cargo mission live on Tuesday
- North Carolina man trying to charge car battery indoors sparked house fire, authorities say
Recommendation
'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
Our E! Shopping Editors Share Favorite Lululemon Picks of the Month— $39 Leggings, $29 Tanks, and More
Team USA receives Olympic gold medal 2 years after Beijing Games after Russian skater banned
Continental Europe has new hottest day on record at nearly 120°F in Sicily
Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s wife, Gayle, hospitalized in stable condition after Birmingham car crash
At least 19 dead and 18 injured after bus collides with truck in northern Mexico
Trump-era White House Medical Unit gave controlled substances to ineligible staff, watchdog finds