Surveillance video needed after mysterious shootings in South St. Pete leave 2 dead

Surveillance video needed after South St. Pete shootings leave two dead

St. Petersburg police need the public?s help for information following two murders where a man seems to have randomly approached the victims and shot them.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg police need the public’s help for information following two murders where a man seems to have randomly approached the victims and shot them.

The chief of police says his department has every detective working the case.

Chief Anthony Holloway described two separate incidents in which a gunman randomly approached someone walking late at night and shot them. There was also a third incident where a man with a gun approached someone, but they saw the gun and ran.

Investigation into possible link between 2 murders

St. Pete police are trying to figure out if two men who died within days of each other were killed by the same suspect.

The chief says the department’s first task is to figure out if the shooter is the same person in each incident. He would not go so far as to call it a ‘serial killer’ situation Tuesday when he announced the investigation.

Both murders happened in the overnight hours at locations about two miles apart in South St. Pete.

The first happened Sunday. 

Detectives say 60-year-old Vernon Williams was walking in the 900 block of Melrose Avenue South, near the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South, when a man approached him, had a short conversation, and then shot him.

Then, on Tuesday morning, detectives say 24-year-old Corlenzo Williams was walking in the 2900 block of 17th Avenue South, near 28th St. South, when a man approached him, had a short conversation, and then shot him.

Corlenzo Williams (L) was shot Tuesday night and Vernon Williams (R) was shot the previous Sunday by a mysterious man with a gun

Within two blocks of that location the same night, another person was approached but that person saw the man had a gun and ran away. He then went to police.   

Even though the two victims have the same last name, they are not relatives and have no connection to each other, according to investigators.  

"Right now, as we are looking at everything, it is a black male. We are not sure it’s the same black male, but everything is lining up to a black male that is having a brief conversation with the victims prior to the shooting," Chief Holloway said when asked to describe the suspected shooter. "We are assuming the suspect is driving down the street, spotting the people who are walking down the street, having a conversation and then shooting them." 

Chief Holloway says he really needs the public’s help. If anyone has any surveillance video doorbell camera video, detectives are asking people to go through and look for something that seems suspicious or unusual. 

They are offering a $5,000 reward through tips made to CrimeStoppers.

The chief said every detective at the department is currently working the case.