A 17-year-old male died following a Monday afternoon shooting on Interstate 4 near the area of McIntosh Road and Branch Forbes Road.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has identified a vehicle of interest in connection with a Monday afternoon shooting that left one teenager dead.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., both 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. Shortly afterward, Major Frank Losat said in a Monday night press conference, HCSO received a call from South Florida Baptist Hospital that a shooting victim had arrived. The vehicle was shot multiple times and one passenger was hit.
That victim, 17, was unresponsive on arrival and succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. He was riding in the car as a passenger with two other juveniles, who were unharmed. The Sheriff’s Office has not released any of their names, but Losat did say the shooting is not believed at this time to have been random.
“It’s very fortunate that no other vehicles or any other occupants were hit either at that time of day,” Losat said.
Losat said police shut down a section of the interstate and walked nearly two miles between Strawberry Crest High School and General RV Center looking for evidence, which they found on the shoulder of the road. HCSO is now looking for a tan or gold, late-1990s Ford Taurus.
Losat asked for anyone who was in the area at the time and saw anything suspicious to call HCSO at 813-247-8200.
