John Jefferson
Top inset: Marcus Jenkins, bottom inset: Tristin Wright (Hillsborough County Jail). Background: Screengrab from home video footage of robbery (WTVT/YouTube)
A Florida couple’s night of elation from winning a jackpot at a casino turned into terror when police say they were robbed at gunpoint and shot.
According to affidavits from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Valery Delacruz and Kim Chambliss were playing slots on Aug. 2 at Tampa’s Hard Rock casino when they won a jackpot of $3,300. They cashed in their winnings and drove to their Riverview home shortly before 5 a.m. It turns out they were being followed, police said.
Footage from their Ring camera showed two masked men, one later identified as 36-year-old Marcus Jenkins, armed with guns approach the car. The suspects shot Chambliss in the back of the leg and fired four times at Delacruz, cops wrote.
“Valery Delacruz can be heard repeatedly shouting ‘I don’t have no money,”” the affidavit said. “The suspect wearing the dark colored ripped jeans and sneakers with a unique segmented pattern (Marcus Jenkins) can be heard ordering Valery Delacruz to take his watch off as the Ring doorbell camera is covered up by the hand of the suspect in white sneakers.”
More on Law&Crime: ‘You want me to say the other word?’: Florida man arrested after allegedly trying to withdraw 1 cent from bank
Jenkins allegedly stole Delacruz’s watch and Chambliss’ purse which contained her I.D., debit card and $5 before fleeing in a Hyundai Sonata driven by 34-year-old Tristin Wright. Delacruz suffered gunshot wounds to his right thigh and left knee while his girlfriend had a wound to the back of her leg. Investigators recovered five shell casings at the scene.
Video cameras from the casino and victims’ neighborhoods captured much of the ordeal. According to the affidavit, Delacruz and Chambliss arrived at the casino around 1 a.m. and played slots until 4 a.m. As they were exiting the video captured Jenkins — wearing the shoes with the same unique pattern — on his phone and following the couple to their BMW. The couple drove away in their car with Jenkins and the other two suspects tailing them, cops wrote. Neighborhood cameras showed the suspects following the victims home, the affidavit said.
Cops were able to identify Jenkins and Wright and take them into custody. Jenkins is facing an attempted murder charge while Wright is facing a principle to aggravated battery charge. The third suspect has not been arrested.
Delacruz and Chambliss described the horrifying ordeal in an interview with Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT. Delacruz spoke about how he was so excited to win some cash.
“I hit and I got a jackpot. And, you know, I was dancing,” he said.
The couple was having good conversations so they never noticed they were being followed.
“We’re just average people, you know, who are out having a good time, you know, who love each other and enjoying each other’s company,” Chambliss said. “And to know that we didn’t even realize that people were following us every step of the way. It’s scary. It’s scary.”
Delacruz said it seemed like the suspects knew what they were doing.
“How many people do they do that to?” he asked.
He credited the responding deputies with saving his life by putting a tourniquet on his leg.
“I lost so much blood, if they didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have made it,” he told the TV station.
While Chambliss is doing OK, the road to recovery for Delacruz will be longer as it’ll be about six months before he’s able to walk again. He was unable to take his son to the first day of school on Monday.
“I couldn’t even walk him to his second grade class,” he said.
Since he can’t work, Delacruz set up a GoFundMe to help pay for medical expenses.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Read the full article here