Person of interest in custody following deadly South St. Pete shootings

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg police say a person of interest is in custody following two separate murders where the gunman seemed to have randomly approached the victims.

In a news release, the police department said Tampa officers and the FBI were involved in arresting the person of interest but didn't name him. Both agencies indicated the man was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant in Tampa. Tampa Police would not directly identify who they had in custody in connection with the St. Pete murders. TPD, however, did reveal they arrested Johnny Carnegie, 34, on an outstanding warrant connected to a shooting earlier at a bar on Gandy Boulevard earlier this year. 

Carnegie was arrested Wednesday for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, resisting an officer without violence, and trafficking cocaine.

Both murders happened in the overnight hours at locations about two miles apart in South St. Pete. The first occurred Sunday. 

Detectives say 60-year-old Vernon Williams was walking in the 900 block of Melrose Avenue South, near the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South, when a man approached him, had a short conversation, and then shot him.

Then, on Tuesday morning, detectives say 24-year-old Corlenzo Williams was walking in the 2900 block of 17th Avenue South, near 28th St. South, when a man approached him, had a short conversation, and then shot him.

Within two blocks of that location the same night, another person was approached, but that person saw the man had a gun and ran away. He then went to police.   

Even though the two victims have the same last name, they are not relatives and have no connection to each other, according to investigators.  

Back in February, Tampa police said Carnegie was at the Warehouse Bar, located on Gandy Boulevard, when he was seen in surveillance video shooting toward an individual around 3 a.m. The footage showed him parking next to the victim's vehicle, exiting, and aiming a handgun at the victim. 

"Without saying anything, the suspect fires two rounds at the victim which skip off the roof and misses the victim," according to the arrest report by Tampa police. "As the victim crouches down the suspect fires one more round through the closed passenger side window of the victims' vehicle. That round enters and exits the driver seat cushion and grazes the victims' right thigh causing a minor injury."

At the time, the victim said he didn't know the suspect and wasn't sure why he shot him. Carnegie was arrested a few days after the Tampa incident.

Hillsborough jail records show Carnegie has over 25 arrests in the county dating back to 2006.