Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco doesn’t have many details about a murder Wednesday that he says was a “targeted execution,” but here’s what investigators have pieced together after interviews with witnesses:
It was right around lunchtime Wednesday afternoon when a car entered the Treviso subdivision in Wiregrass Ranch and drove up to a yellow home on the 28000 block of Marsciano Lane that was still under construction. The two murder suspects, described by witnesses as light-skinned black men with short braided hair, roughly 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-8 inches in height, hopped out of a dark-colored sedan (UPDATE: The vehicle police are looking for is a 2017-2018 black Ford Fusion Hybrid) and walked towards the garage.
Three men were sitting in the garage, taking a break from a tiling project at the house, which they had been working on since 7 a.m. or so. The suspects only seemed interested in one of the construction workers — 46-year-old Heans Gianni Alvarez. Brushing past the two other men sitting there, one of the suspects walked up to Alvarez, tapped him on the leg, pointed the gun right at him and executed him.
The suspect pointed the gun at the other men, but did not pull the trigger as they scattered. The two suspects returned to their car and sped off.
“It looks like they were going after Mr. Alvarez,” Sheriff Nocco said. “They bypassed other people. And, there was no sign of a robbery that took place.”
In fact, Alvarez was wearing jewelry when law enforcement arrived.
Nocco says they are still investigating any possible motive, but it does appear the two suspects knew Alvarez.
Nocco is asking for the public’s help. Anyone with any information is urged to call the Pasco Sheriff’s Office Crime Tips Line at 1-800-706-2488.
Pasco Sheriff detectives are currently investigating the shooting death of a construction worker in Estancia while he was working.
According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, a call came in at 12:49 p.m.. The PCSO says this appears to be an isolated incident and not a threat to the community.
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco will address the media at 3 p.m.
A Tampa man has been arrested and faces charges of premeditated murder and leaving the scene of an accident in the fatal hit-and-run Sunday morning that left a New Tampa man dead and his two young children injured.
According to police, Mikese Morse was arrestedย and is being held without bail at the Hillsborough County jail.
At a press conference Monday morning, Police Chief Brian Dugan said Morse was seen by another driver traveling westbound on New Tampa Blvd. when his car made a u-turnย and thenย purposefully crossed over the road near Wood Sage Dr. and plowed over Pedro Aguerreberry and his 3- and 8-year-old sons, Lucas and Bennett, who were out riding bikes.
“He accelerated and drove over the victims,” said Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan. “It was very clear that he had run these people over and knew that he had run them over. He intentionally drove his 2008 red 4-door Dodge…onto the bike path. At no time did he stop to render aid.”
Dugan said police were still unclear why Morse veered onto the bike path. He said what Morse did was “random and purposeful.”
Dugan said the police have had past contact with Morris. On June 12, he walked into one of their district offices exhibiting odd behavior and was Baker Acted that day. He has had a number of minor traffic infractions.
“He is someone who appears to be disturbed,” Dugan said.
Aguerreberry died Sunday night. His boys are expected to make a full recovery.
The site of failed Mexican restaurant Vueloโs โ which was previously Seรฑor Tโs, which was previously Romanoโs Macaroni Grill โ and which has been vacant since May 8 of last year, may soon be showing some signs of life.
According to Curtis Rorebeck, the managing broker at Hybridge, the site, located right on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. just north of the Home Depot, has drawn the interest of a handful of suitors since going dark.
While stopping short of calling a deal imminent to sell to a group that would open a new restaurant at the location, Rorebeck did say there is an offer under review. โWe are going through the process,โ he said. โWeโve had a lot of interest on that property.โ
Rorebeck even said that on more than one occasion since Vueloโs closed, the property was under contract, but those deals fell through. The current negotiations, however, are โpromising,โ he says.
While the location has been blamed in years past as not being ideal, it will be across the street from (and a little south of) the new Villages at Hunterโs Lake planned for 2019-20, which will feature the New Tampa Cultural Center, 241 apartments, a โgreenโ grocer and other retail stores.
MORE FOOD, MON: A few steps south Chiliโs (next to Oakleyโs Grille), the space formerly occupied by Dairy Queen is being renovated and expected to open as a Jamaican restaurant.
NEW TAMPA PIANO & PEDAGOGYโS NEW HOME?: New Tampa Piano & Pedagogy Academy (NTPPA), which is currently operating adjacent to the New Tampa Dance Theatre on Cross Creek Blvd., is expecting to break ground on its own building near the end of the summer.
Just a few steps west of its current location, developer Abhishek Jain has filed for a permit to build a 4,000-sq.-ft. building, 2,810 sq. ft. of which will be the NTPPAโs new home.
Considering the new location is next to a dance studio, music academy and Creative World School, Jain would like to lease the remaining 1,200 sq. ft. to a youth-oriented business, or perhaps a pediatrician.
Jainโs wife Judith is the founder and executive director of the NTPPA.
S.R. 56 BUSY AGAIN: On the north side of S.R. 56 (across from the Tampa Premium Outlets) in the Cypress Creek Town Center Development of Regional Impact (DRI) in Wesley Chapel, things are going to start heating up again, as a flurry of building permits are working their way through Pasco County.
Just this month, permitting requests have been made for the beginnings of a 20,000-sq.-ft. Home Goods store, a 40,565-sq.ft. Burlington Coat Factory, and a 24,254-sq.-ft. Earth Fare, the first green grocer to land in Wesley Chapel (as we reported last issue).
Permits for four shell buildings, ranging between 1,919-sq.-ft. and 3,000-sq.ft., are being processed as well, although no tenants had been publicly named at our press time.
Those buildings could be homes for some businesses that Dilip Kanji, the Impact Properties president and developer of the Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center, said previously were on their way. As previously reported by the Neighborhood News, those include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Total Wine & More, Walk-On Bistreaux and Golf Galaxy.
Long-Time New Tampa Resident Jim Davison debates roadway connections with Pasco County residents at an open house May 29. (Photo: John Cotey)
When the Tampa City Council met in early May to debate a rezoning that would allow M/I Homes to proceed with building 700 new homes in K-Bar Ranch, council members got stuck on one major point:
There arenโt enough roads in the area to allow residents to get in and out of their new neighborhood.
Without connections to Pasco County, particularly merging Kinnan St. in New Tampa with Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe, more homes would mean more residents who are essentially trapped with just one road, Kinnan St., out of their neighborhoods.
So the discussion was postponed until June 28 in the hopes that Pasco, with help from a yearlong Wesley Chapel Roadways Connection Study, which was near completion, would provide some answers.
The report is out. And no, it hasnโt.
At a May 29 open house at the Porter campus of Pasco-Hernando State Community College, an executive summary of the report was presented to roughly 75 locals โ including politicians on both sides of the argument โ but didnโt address actual connections in a way many who attended may have hoped.
How that ends up affecting future development in K-Bar Ranch remains to be seen. The Tampa City Council will take up the debate again June 28. But, any decision they make will have to be made without any promises of any connections between Hillsborough and Pasco counties. And, Pasco is in no rush to make a decision on the issue.
The public comment period about the Roadways Study ends today, and AECOM, the consulting firm that did the study, isnโt scheduled to present them to the Pasco MPO until August. A final study report will be finalized following that meeting, and then Pasco County will run a public opinion poll โ basically an up or down vote on each of the connections, as well as combinations of connectors โ in September or October.
The Pasco MPO will then meet in October to review the final study and decide what recommendations to make to Pascoโs Board of County Commissioners (BOC). The BOC will have the final say, with no date given for a final vote.
Connecting only Kinnan to Mansfield โ the streets still separated by a 30-foot hop-skip-and-a-jump patch of dirt and bushes โ without any other connections being made, was not studied.
District 2 commissioner Mike Moore, who represents the Meadow Pointe area, says connecting Meadow Point Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy remains his favored option, and is opposed to connecting Kinnan-Mansfield.
โI think some people possibly thought the study would show maybe just a couple of hundred cars a day (added to Mansfield traffic with the connection),โ Moore said, โbut the study shows obviously thatโs not the case. Itโs anywhere from 500 to 4,000 (according to traffic projections). If anyone thinks Kinnan-Mansfield can handle 4,000 cars a day, itโs just not reality.โ
When it was pointed out to Moore that the gap between 500 and 4,000 is significant, and that 500 cars could be only 250 making round trips, he said โThatโs still a lot.โ
At the original roadways meeting May 15, 2017, Pasco residents who filled out public comment cards were opposed to the connection, but only by a 37-36 margin.
โNow that weโve done the study, and people can see the numbers, the true numbers, I have a sneaking suspicion that will change quite a bit,โ Moore said.
While extensive, the study included no recommendations. It only went as far as listing positives โ alternate routes during accidents, economic benefits, convenient travel to attractions in Hillsborough County, and relieving the traffic of up to 7,000 vehicles per day on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and Cross Creek Blvd. โ and negatives, like the increased traffic with minimal congestion relief for Pasco County roads and almost $2-million in additional improvements needed, with connections. The study looked at four alternatives, including a no-build alternative that would put up a gate for emergency vehicles and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations at Kinnan-Mansfield, but no connection for general public use.
Other alternatives studied included:
โข Connecting Kinnan-Mansfield and K-Bar Ranch Blvd. to Meadow Pointe;
โข Connecting only K-Bar Ranch Blvd to Meadow Pointe Blvd.; and
โข Doing all three possible connections: Kinnan-Mansfield, K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.-Meadow Pointe Blvd., and Wyndfields Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.
Tampaโs District 7 councilman Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa, attended the meeting and was disappointed by the lack of specificity in the study. However, he was pleased by the prospect of at least an emergency gate at Kinnan-Mansfield.
Moore said Pasco County proposed one two years ago, and even offered to split the costs, but Tampa rejected it.
โIโm not looking at this from a political perspective,โ Viera said. โIf we can have a compromise for now, if a gate is built only for first responders, thatโs a net positive. We obviously want to go further. Thatโs getting to first base, and we want a home run. But right now, that would be a net positive for both sides from a safety perspective.โ
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco doesn’t have many details about a murder Wednesday that he says was a “targeted execution,” but here’s what investigators have pieced together after interviews with witnesses:
The suspect pointed the gun at the other men, but did not pull the trigger as they scattered. The two suspects returned to their car and sped off.
