John Jefferson
Inset: Elijah El-Shabazz. Background: Police in Florida arrest El-Shabazz after he allegedly tried to kidnap a woman in Tampa (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office).
A woman’s date with a man in Florida went horribly wrong when he allegedly pulled out a gun and robbed her before kidnapping her.
It happened shortly after 11 p.m. Jan. 18 at a hotel in Tampa. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday posted audio of the 911 call and body camera video of the woman explaining in detail the ordeal to police.
The frantic victim told the 911 dispatcher that she needed police to come to the Motel 6 at 9942 E. Adamo Drive.
“Please, please please, I need someone here right now,” she pleaded.
She said she was outside hiding from the suspect.
“This guy, he basically kidnapped me and he put a gun to my head and he robbed everything,” she said in distress. “And I have him on the phone right now because I told him I was running to my room to get all my money.”
She begged for the police to respond. The dispatcher assured her she had several officers on the way.
“I just need you to stay on the phone with me and tell me where you’re at and if you see him again,” the dispatcher said.
The woman became even more panicked when she saw the suspect appear.
“I see him walking. I think I see him. I think I see him,” she exclaimed.
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“Ma’am I want you to stay quiet then, OK?” the dispatcher assured.
The woman then says that police have arrived. By that point, the suspect had fled.
The police body camera showed the victim breathing heavily. Officers told her to breathe and explain what happened.
“This guy told me to come hang out with him,” she said. “I’m not from here, we met online, right? I go to hang out with him and literally we’re sitting in the car and everything’s cool. We’re getting to know each other a little bit. And then he literally pulls a gun out of the middle console and he’s like give me everything you got. He puts it to my head and starts taking everything out of my pockets.”
She said the suspect took her phone, car keys and watch along with her hotel room key. He allegedly told her that he knew she had money and drove her to the hotel where he ordered her to go up to her room to grab cash. She said he had her on the phone with him as she went up to the room where she told him her boyfriend was staying.
“And when I got upstairs, I clicked over and called 911,” she said. “But I seen him come up there cause I told him the room across the hall. I didn’t tell him the room I was staying in, He has my car keys. He has everything.”
Deputies tracked the victim’s phone which was still in his car. The suspect allegedly fled cops before crashing into another vehicle. They then took him into custody. He was identified as 26-year-old Elijah Silva El-Shabazz. He’s facing a slew of charges including armed kidnapping, robbery with a firearm, fleeing to elude and trafficking in fentanyl.
“This was a terrifying ordeal for the victim, one no one should ever have to endure. In her moment of fear, she found the strength to call for help, and our deputies wasted no time tracking down the suspect and removing this reckless criminal from our streets,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “We are grateful she is safe.”
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