Tampa Police detectives charged Justin Blackmon, 34, and Timothy Connell,29, with the armed carjacking that ended in a foot chase Oct. 16, in Plant City.
EARLIER REPORT
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested two men this evening, in Plant City, in connection with Tampa carjacking.
According to Sheriff’s Office reports, at about 12:30 p.m. Oct. 16, a detective with the Plant City Police Department saw two suspects, who looked suspicious, in a brown Honda Accord. The detective pulled behind the suspects on Bruton Road. The driver of the Honda panicked, accelerated and drove off into a small grass ditch.
Both men fled on foot from the vehicle running north into the sparsely populated and large heavily wooded area that runs north to the Pasco County line.
The Accord was confirmed stolen during an armed carjacking that occurred early this morning from a gas station in the City of Tampa while the victim was pumping gas.
Sheriff’s Office detectives, supported by dogs and helicopters, began searching for the suspects in the woods north of Bruton Road and west of State Road 39. Detectives caught one of them by 6:15 p.m., and the other was discovered by a K-9 less than an hour later hiding in a swamp at the dead end of Finally Road south of Shoupe Road.
Tampa Police Department will release the names of the suspects this evening. Check back for details.