E-Paper
Man suspected to be Florida serial killer held after police receive a tip
Howell Emmanuel Donaldson III was arrested after police received a tip that he had a firearm in a bag at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant.
Police arrested a suspected serial killer on Tuesday who faces charges of murdering four people over a period of several weeks in the US city of Tampa, Florida.
The murders took place between October 9 and November 14 in a seven-block area of Tampa’s working-class Seminole Heights neighbourhood, prompting the offer of a $100,000 reward for information to help solve the case.
Howell Emmanuel Donaldson III, aged 24, was arrested after police received a tip that he had a firearm in a bag at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant, Tampa police said in a statement.
“After several hours, (police) had enough information to charge Donaldson with all four of the homicides that have occurred in the Seminole Heights area,” the department said.
The statement did not mention whether or not the tipster would receive the $100,000 reward, which the city previously said came from law enforcement organizations and private donations.
Police chief Brian Dugan told a news conference on Tuesday that Donaldson would be charged with four counts of first-degree murder, which can carry the death penalty in Florida.
“Fifty-one days ago, I said this was a struggle between good and evil,” Mayor Bob Buckhorn told the same news conference.
“Well tonight, goodness has won. Tonight, in the battle between darkness and light, light has won,” he said.
