Tampa homicide suspect caught on cellphone video by one of his alleged victims

TAMPA - Friday afternoon, the Tampa Police Department responded to 911 calls for a shooting with two possible victims. Officers arrived at the location at El Portal Drive and West Yukon Street and found two people shot to death outside a white Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck.

One of the victims, a man, was outside the truck lying on the ground; the other, a woman, was partially hanging out of the passenger side of the vehicle.

El Portal Drive shooting scene

What we know:

The Tampa Police Homicide investigators began to search the scene for evidence and information about the victims in hopes that a motive and potential killer could be located. 

The deceased woman was still holding her cellphone when her body was being processed. Detectives found that she was recording a video that was still going.

As they processed that video, they saw that she and the other victim were confronted by a Black man wearing sunglasses, a polo shirt, grey pants and black shoes. The man had been holding a cup and car keys. The video showed that man open the rear passenger door of the pickup truck.

Courtesy: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

The man and woman both confronted this suspect speaking in Spanish. An interpreter said they said to him, "Hey, you can't go into my car!"

The video shows the man throw the cup of liquid at the male victim, and while the victim reacted defensively, the suspect produced a concealed handgun and shot the victim.

The woman screamed, retreating toward the interior of the vehicle, and the video recorded several more gunshots. The video frame shows the suspect standing over the woman holding the weapon before walking out of the video.

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Using a still image taken from the video, detectives were able to identify the suspect as a possible neighbor, Louis Charles Jules. His residence was across the street from the shooting location on El Portal Drive.

A bulletin was sent out to area law enforcement to search for Jules and any vehicles registered to him.

Undercover units were able to locate and arrest Jules about eight hours after the shooting. They identified his vehicle there and saw him enter the residence. The defendant's handgun and sunglasses were recovered hidden in the back of a pickup truck belonging to someone else at that address. 

The backstory:

According to court documents, the defendant, Louis Jules, identified himself from the video. While being interviewed, he claimed that he sold the white Chevy pickup truck at the crime scene to the victims. They had yet to pay him for the vehicle, and his purpose for the visit was to get his money for the vehicle. 

El Portal Drive scene Chevy pickup

His claim, according to the documents, was that he attempted to get into the vehicle to accompany the couple to an ATM machine to get money. That is when the confrontation occurred.

Jules was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence relating to a capital felony. 

What's next:

The State Attorney's Office filed a motion for pretrial detention in this case. That hearing will take place later this week. Until that takes place, Jules will be held in the Hillsborough County Jail without bond.