Florida Man Charged With First-Degree Murder of Suncoast CU Member

Tampa (Fla.) Police said Thursday they arrested and charged 20-year-old Jeremiah Harris Jr. with first-degree murder in the death of a Suncoast Credit Union member.

On March 3, just after 6 a.m., Tampa Police officers found a white male in his early 50’s suffering from a gunshot wound in the parking lot at the Suncoast Credit Union Branch at 1920 E. Hillsborough Ave. He was transported to a hospital where he died from his injuries.

Suncoast President/CEO Kevin Johnson confirmed the victim was a member. A Florida law prohibited police from identifying the victim.

“Suncoast is grateful for the hard work of the Tampa Police Department in their expedited efforts to find and arrest the suspect involved in the investigation at our East Tampa Service Center last week,” Johnson said. “We value our strong partnership with law enforcement and fully cooperated with their investigation that helped lead to the arrest.”

Witness statements provided detectives with information that Harris was repeatedly seen wearing clothing and carrying items that matched the suspect from surveillance video, according to Tampa Police.

Additionally, investigative resources led detectives to an apartment in Meridian Pointe, where Harris was known to associate with a resident there. After a search warrant was executed at that apartment, fingerprint specialists said Harris’ fingerprints matched the fingerprints lifted from evidence recovered at the crime scene, police say.

In addition to first-degree murder, Harris also was charged with armed robbery.

What’s more, on Feb. 21, just 11 days before the murder, a robbery had taken place at the same Suncoast branch, police say.

In that case, the victim, an adult black male in his early 20’s, was at the ATM when he was approached by Harris, who allegedly pointed a gun and said, “If you don’t give it to me, I’ll kill you.”

The robbery victim was not injured.

In that case, detectives filed a second armed robbery charge against Harris.

During an interview with detectives, Harris provided a post-Miranda confession to the alleged criminal offenses.

Harris is being held at the Hillsborough County Orient Jail on a $400,000 bond.

“The dedicated work of our officers and skilled investigations of our detectives and fingerprint specialists undoubtedly led to a swift arrest in this case,” Interim Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a prepared statement. “While this dangerous criminal cannot harm another member of our community, our thoughts remain with the victim’s family. We hope this arrest brings a small sense of comfort in their time of mourning.”