Demetrius Parks, who the Tampa Police Department says is responsible for a death at the Family Dollar store on N. 40th Street last weekend has been arrested in Orlando.
A tip from a citizen led authorities to find a stolen car connected to a robbery and shooting at a nearby Family Dollar this weekend.
A 1995 Mitsubishi Mirage was abandoned on Sunday night at 2503 38th Avenue in Tampa, according to the Tampa Police Department, just a few miles from the business at 4900 N. 40th Street in Tampa.
Authorities say the incident began on Sunday morning when U.S. Army veteran Horsley Shorter, Jr. , 49, was shot by an unidentified man after Shorter came out of his office and tried to help a co-worker who had been help up behind a counter. Shorter died at Tampa General Hospital.
After shooting Shorter, authorities say the shooter forced a clerk into the parking lot and asked them to get into the trunk, according to www.tbo.com. When the employee refused, the shooter drove off in the Mitsubishi.
Parks, 23, who has lived with family and friends since he was released from prison on March 31, 2012, according to the Tampa Police Department. Parks has an extensive criminal record, police say. He served three years in prison for weapons charges, and was arrested numerous times for crimes that include burglary, grand theft and felon in possession of a firearm, police say.
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