Three suspects were arrested in connection with the Aug. 24 shooting, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office announced Monday.
On Monday afternoon. Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of three suspects in the Aug. 24 shooting on Interstate 4 that left one teenager dead.
Jaris Youngblood Jr., 20, Jarkese Youngblood, 22, and Sha’Quandra Williams, 19, were arrested in connection with the shooting. The arrests were confirmed in a Monday press conference with Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Highway Patrol, Plant City Police Department and Tampa Police Department, which all worked together on the case.
“The announcement of these arrests is a resounding example of how well we work together and because of the relationship we share with our Law Enforcement Partners, our Tampa Bay community is a safer place,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said.
The shooting happened around 3:30 p.m. Aug. 24. HCSO and Florida Highway Patrol responded to a report of shots fired on Interstate 4 East but did not find any victims or involved vehicles at the time. South Florida Baptist Hospital soon informed HCSO it had a shooting victim arrive and he was unresponsive at the time. The victim, 17, later died at the hospital. Police searched a two-mile stretch of the interstate for evidence and identified a gold Ford Taurus as a vehicle of interest. Chronister said the shooting was not random.
“Detectives believe that the I-4 shooting on August 24 may have been linked to an ongoing neighborhood and online feud between young people within and outside of the Plant City area,” HCSO said in a press release. “Following multiple interviews, detectives learned that the Youngblood brothers saw a group of individuals they were feuding with while driving down I-4, which is what led Jaris Youngblood to roll down the rear driver’s side window and begin shooting at the individuals while his brother was driving.”
Williams, who was a passenger in the Taurus and had her one-year-old child in her lap during the incident, sold the car to a scrap yard in Osceola County to hide the evidence, HCSO said. The car belonged to Jarkese Youngblood.
Williams turned herself in to police at Orient Road Jail on Saturday. Jaris Youngblood Jr. was arrested in Tampa and Jarkese Youngblood was arrested in Osceola County.
Jaris Youngblood Jr. was charged with premeditated first degree murder with a firearm, shooting into a vehicle and tampering with evidence. Jarkese Youngblood was charged with principal to premeditated first degree murder and tampering with evidence. Williams was charged with tampering with evidence.
“The Youngblood brothers not only worked together to kill the teenage victim, they showed no regard for the other innocent drivers on I-4,” Chronister said. “Or even the infant child who was riding in the car with them.”
The incident is still under investigation but was not connected to the other recent I-4 shootings currently under investigation, Chronister confirmed.
