18 Year-Old Dead After an Officer Involved Shooting in Tampa
Posted: October 26, 2015
According to Stephen Hegarty, PIO for Tampa Police, the suspect who was shot early this morning after fighting with a Tampa Police officer and attempting to drown a Police K-9 has died of his injuries.
18 year-old Kobvey Igbuhay died at the hospital where he was taken after being shot during the altercation with a TPD officer. The altercation occurred after four suspects in a stolen car fled into a swampy area to elude police. His next of kin has been notified.
Two other teens who were in the stolen car and taken into custody are: 18 year-old Dominic
Robles and 18 year-old Shakira Rodriguez. Rodriguez was apprehended after hiding in the woods for more than three hours.
The fourth teen in the car is a 16 year old juvenile who is not being identified at this time. Charges are pending for all three suspects.
The Tampa Police Officer involved in the shooting is Jimmy Houston, a 15 year veteran of TPD. K-9 Officer Houston has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure. Houston was taken to the hospital to get checked out after the physical altercation with suspect Igbuhay. He did not suffer any serious injuries.
Based on the preliminary investigation, three police K-9s were involved in the search for the suspects in a dark, wooded area with deep, chest-high, swamp water. Before he fought with Officer Houston, suspect Igbuhay attempted to drown one of the K-9s by pulling the dog underwater. That dog is Titus, a 6 year old German Shepherd. (A photograph of Titus at last week’s water training at Adventure Island is attached.)
The incident began at about 2:30 a.m. Monday when a police officer spotted a stolen SUV near Nebraska Avenue and Lake Avenue with four suspects inside. The officer attempted to pull over the SUV, but the suspects fled in the SUV. The officer notified air service, and the TPD helicopter followed the SUV from the air. The SUV traveled north and stopped behind the First Presbyterian Church of Tampa at 4307 Humphrey Street. The suspects fled north into the wooded swampy area.
TPD established a perimeter around the wooded area. Two suspects were quickly apprehended. TPD officers followed the other suspects into the woods with K-9 police dogs. Suspect Shakira Rodriguez remained in the woods for more than three hours before she was apprehended at approximately 6:25 a.m.