Current:Home > InvestNovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Center:A Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them. -Global Capital Summit
NovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Center:A Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them.
Benjamin Ashford View
Date:2025-04-08 00:54:42
Correction: An early version of this story provided an incorrect location for the casino the victims were visiting.
A Florida couple is NovaQuant Quantitative Think Tank Centergrateful 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! (1179)
Related
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Cuba Gooding Jr. Settles Civil Sexual Abuse Case
- In a First, California Requires Solar Panels for New Homes. Will Other States Follow?
- An Android update is causing thousands of false calls to 911, Minnesota says
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- War on NOAA? A Climate Denier’s Arrival Raises Fears the Agency’s Climate Mission Is Under Attack
- Jackie Miller James' Sister Shares Update After Influencer's Aneurysm Rupture
- Native American Tribe Gets Federal Funds to Flee Rising Seas
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- ESPN lays off popular on-air talent in latest round of cuts
Ranking
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- Vanderpump Rules: Raquel Leviss Wanted to Be in a Throuple With Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix
- Man recently released from Florida prison confesses to killing pregnant mother and her 6-year-old in 2002
- Police Treating Dakota Access Protesters ‘Like an Enemy on the Battlefield,’ Groups Say
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- 5 Ways Trump’s Clean Power Rollback Strips Away Health, Climate Protections
- Court: Trump’s EPA Can’t Erase Interstate Smog Rules
- Heather Rae El Moussa Claps Back at Critics Accusing Her of Favoring Son Tristan Over Stepkids
Recommendation
Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
Utilities Are Promising Net Zero Carbon Emissions, But Don’t Expect Big Changes Soon
What is the Higher Education Act —and could it still lead to student loan forgiveness?
5 Ways Trump’s Clean Power Rollback Strips Away Health, Climate Protections
Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
Chemours Says it Will Dramatically Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Aiming for Net Zero by 2050
Second bus of migrants sent from Texas to Los Angeles
Utilities Are Promising Net Zero Carbon Emissions, But Don’t Expect Big Changes Soon