Police in Florida have detained a guy who is accused of shooting a pregnant woman and her family while they were resting in their car.
Christopher Stamat Jr., 21, was detained by Tampa Police on Saturday in connection with the shooting on October 5 at around 4:30 a.m.
The pregnant woman was allegedly shot in the head by Stamat, who also left her with less serious wounds.
Six felony charges, including four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one case of second-degree attempted murder, and one count of shooting into a moving vehicle, are brought against Stamat, who is being held without bond.
Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor described how Stamat was detained by police on Saturday for felony marijuana possession but then released in a press conference on Sunday morning.
After presenting evidence in support of the gunshot charge, he was then detained again later that afternoon, according to O’Connor.
‘Our community as a whole can sleep easier tonight knowing the suspect linked to this monstrous, random act of violence is no longer free to prey on innocent people,’ O’Connor said.
‘You take a gun, and you unload it on a family. We can’t really sit back and try to figure out the ‘why’ on that. There’s really zero tolerance for that kind of behavior.’
In the Old West Tampa area, a parking lot across from the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Complex is where the shooting took place.
Police were able to locate Stamat’s 2012 BMW using CCTV footage from the incident.
Three miles from the attack site, his automobile was discovered in the garage of his girlfriend’s house.
After obtaining warrants, police searched Stamat’s house and car and discovered empty round shells that matched those found at the homicide site, as well as an empty gun box for a 9mm handgun.
O’Connor also detailed how Stamat reportedly used a different firearm in the shooting than the one that police had discovered.
There is no question that the shot casings belong to him, the chief said, as the door to his bedroom, where they were discovered, requires finger print identification to unlock.
