Florida prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty for a 24-year-old man they say is responsible for randomly killing four people in a Tampa neighborhood will face the death penalty, according to news reports.
Howell Emanuel Donaldson III was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Benjamin Mitchell, 22; Monica Hoffa, 32; Anthony Naiboa, 20; and Ronald Felton, 60.
"The death penalty is for the worst of the worst, crimes that are far more egregious than the typical murder, and that's what we have here," Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said at a 10:30 a.m. news conference Tuesday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The four victims were shot dead in October and November, sparking a manhunt in the Seminole Heights neighborhood.
Donaldson was arrested Nov. 28 after he handed a coworker at McDonald's a bag with a pistol inside. The coworker then alerted police, who made the arrest.
The Tampa Police Department said that evidence later taken from the handgun connects it to all four murders, the Times reported.
During the news conference, Warren said that his office decided to pursue the death penalty due to several factors. He said that Donaldson killed four innocent people in a "cold, calculated and premeditated manner" and that there is no evidence showing he is mentally ill.
The defendant’s parents, Rosita and Howell Donaldson Jr., face civil contempt charges because of their refusal to answer prosecutors’ questions about their son, the Times reported.
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