Current:Home > ScamsA Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them. -ProsperityStream Academy
A Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them.
View
Date:2025-04-16 06:47:53
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! (28)
Related
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Chief Justice Roberts casts a wary eye on artificial intelligence in the courts
- Gloria Trevi says she was a 'prisoner' of former manager Sergio Andrade in new lawsuit
- Kirby Smart after Georgia football's 63-3 rout of Florida State: 'They need to fix this'
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Feds say they won't bring second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried
- 2024 Winter Classic: Live stream, time, weather, how to watch Golden Knights at Kraken
- New York City officials detail New Year's Eve in Times Square security plan
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Taliban say security forces killed dozens of Tajiks, Pakistanis involved in attacks in Afghanistan
Ranking
- The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
- NFC playoff picture: San Francisco 49ers clinch home-field advantage
- Most funding for endangered species only benefits a few creatures. Thousands of others are left in limbo
- Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion target bank and block part of highway around Amsterdam
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- 'Steamboat Willie' is now in the public domain. What does that mean for Mickey Mouse?
- On her 18th birthday, North Carolina woman won $250,000 on her first ever scratch-off
- Russia launches record number of drones across Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv continue aerial attacks
Recommendation
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
Judge allows new court in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital, rejecting NAACP request to stop it
When is the 2024 Super Bowl? What fans should know about date, time, halftime performer
This group has an idea to help save the planet: Everyone should go vegan
Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
Inside some of the most unique collections at the Library of Congress as it celebrates 224th anniversary
Washington Law Attempts to Fill the Void in Federal Regulation of Hazardous Chemicals
Ole Miss staffer posted fake Penn State player quote from fake account before Peach Bowl