TAMPA, FL — Three teenagers have been charged after investigators say they carried out a series of violent attacks targeting homeless individuals in Tampa on July 13, leaving one victim critically injured.
According to the Tampa Police Department, the first attack happened around 2:30 a.m. in the 800 block of E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. A man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s were resting when three males approached them, verbally harassed them, and threw rocks. The woman was struck in the back of the head but was not seriously injured. The incident was not reported at the time.
Later that morning, around 7:45 a.m., officers found a Hispanic man in his 60s severely injured and unresponsive behind a business in the 3900 block of N. Nebraska Avenue. He was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, and remains on a ventilator.
Detectives later linked the two attacks and identified the suspects as 13-year-old Samari Bryant, 14-year-old Corliss Sirmons, and 16-year-old Javonnie Council.
Investigators said the teens had also been taken into custody during an unrelated auto burglary investigation, where officers recovered clothing and evidence that connected them to both assaults.
Police said the group planned to harass and assault homeless individuals for entertainment because they were “bored.”
Bryant and Council were arrested on July 16 and charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon evidencing prejudice, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Bryant also faces unrelated charges of battery and exposure of sexual organs.
On July 21, Sirmons, who was already in juvenile detention on unrelated charges, was also charged with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon evidencing prejudice.
The three male suspects, along with a 16-year-old female who police said was not involved in the assaults, also face six counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance related to the separate auto burglary investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Tampa Police Department at 813-231-6130 or Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 800-873-TIPS.
SOURCE: TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT
