Seminole Heights

Howell Emmanuel Donaldson III has been arrested and charged for the murders Benjamin Mitchell, Monica Hoffa, Anthony Naiboa, and Ronald Felton. Donaldson lived in Town n’ Country, a neighborhood in Tampa, Florida while attending Braulio Alonso high school. I was raised in the same neighborhood and attended the same school just a year after he graduated. It’s startling to know that I was in the presence of someone who was capable of murder. The possibility that I could’ve crossed paths with him at some point in my life haunts me.

Most importantly than anything right now is the closure the families of the victims are receiving through these difficult times. If I’m as shocked as a bystander I can not imagine how the families feel or how the people who knew Donaldson feel.