'Wrong place, wrong time:' Police increase reward 1 year after July 4 shooting death of 7-year-old
TAMPA, Fla. - One year has passed, and the memorial along the Courtney Campbell Causeway remains for 7-year-old Yitzian Torres Garcia, who was shot and killed last 4th of July.
Despite a year’s worth of work on the investigation, homicide detectives with Tampa police say they still need more help.
"We have hundreds of tips, but we're looking for more," said Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw. "We do believe that there are more out there."
RELATED: Child shot on Courtney Campbell Causeway remembered on birthday as killer remains loose
One day before the anniversary of Yitzian’s death, his family joined Tampa police and Crimestoppers as they announced an increase in reward money for information leading to an arrest in the case.
The FBI and ATF have added $5,000 each to the previous reward of $15,000 for a total of $25,000.
On July 4, 2023, Juan Carlos Hernandez said he took his grandson, Yitzian Torres Garcia, to an area about two miles west of Ben T. Davis Beach in Tampa to celebrate the Fourth of July by watching fireworks.
Not long after the grandfather and grandson arrived, people nearby began shooting. Hernandez grabbed Yitzian, pulled him into his pickup truck, and jumped on top of him to try to protect him.
RELATED: Grandpa tried to protect boy shot, killed on Fourth of July in Tampa, police say
The bullet pierced the truck, hit Hernandez in the hand and Yitzian in the head, killing him.
"4th of July. Kids want to see fireworks," Yitzian’s grandmother, Marisol Ayala Hernandez said. "My grandson didn’t get to see his fireworks."
"It's been hard," Hernandez explained to cameras earlier this year. "And it's still, you know, hurt on our hearts because we don't have nobody to pay for this."
According to the Tampa Police Department, the dispute was about how close a group of jet skiers were to the another group.
Yitzian's family said they are going to hold a memorial service for the child on July 4 at the scene of the shooting. That's where they will light off the fireworks he was supposed to set off last year.
"Justice for me, for my family, is that we’re never going to forget him," Hernandez said. "He’s always going to be in our heart. And I think it’s just something that us getting the person that did this is going to take a little bit of our pain away. Because we need to close this case with justice. The person has to pay for what they did."
"If there isn’t a more motivating thing than seeing this family here and what happened of Yitzian and this reward increase, I don’t know what there is," Bercaw said.
His family is pleading for anyone with information to come forward.
"You killed an innocent baby. My grandson had nothing to do with this… Somebody knows something," Yitzian's grandmother said through tears.
The Tampa Police Department, FBI and ATF have combed through photos, videos and tips over the last year.
"We do believe that there’s video and information out there that we do not have," Bercaw said.
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