Current:Home > InvestA Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them. -Visionary Wealth Guides
A Florida couple won $3,300 at the casino. Two men then followed them home and shot them.
View
Date:2025-04-21 02:32:49
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! (86)
Related
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Biden’s Climate Plan Embraces Green New Deal, Goes Beyond Obama-Era Ambition
- Why Kim Kardashian Is Feuding With Diva of All Divas Kourtney Kardashian
- Kim and Khloe Kardashian Take Barbie Girls Chicago, True, Stormi and Dream on Fantastic Outing
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- North Korea has hacked $1.2 billion in crypto and other assets for its economy
- Warming Trends: A Flag for Antarctica, Lonely Hearts ‘Hot for Climate Change Activists,’ and How to Check Your Environmental Handprint
- Q&A: An Environmental Justice Champion’s Journey From Rural Alabama to Biden’s Climate Task Force
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Which economic indicator defined 2022?
Ranking
- Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
- Amid blockbuster decisions on affirmative action, student loan relief and free speech, Supreme Court's term sees Roberts back on top
- U.S. destroys last of its declared chemical weapons
- 2022 was the year crypto came crashing down to Earth
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- The Riverkeeper’s Quest to Protect the Delaware River Watershed as the Rains Fall and Sea Level Rises
- Biden’s Climate Plan Embraces Green New Deal, Goes Beyond Obama-Era Ambition
- China Just Entered a Major International Climate Agreement. Now Comes the Hard Part
Recommendation
Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
Across America, Five Communities in Search of Environmental Justice
The Postal Service pledges to move to an all-electric delivery fleet
Warming Trends: Google Earth Shows Climate Change in Action, a History of the World Through Bat Guano and Bike Riding With Monarchs
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
You have summer plans? Jim Gaffigan does not
How a scrappy African startup could forever change the world of vaccines
Coal Is On Its Way Out in Indiana. But What Replaces It and Who Will Own It?
Like
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- With Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s Snubbing of the Democrats’ Reconciliation Plans, Environmental Advocates Ask, ‘Which Side Are You On?’
- With Climate Change Intensifying, Can At-Risk Minority Communities Rely on the Police to Keep Them Safe?