Police investigate at the scene following a lead of a man with a gun at a McDonald's in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday. Howell Emanuel Donaldson, 24, was charged with four counts of first degree murder in connection with deaths in the Seminole Heights neighborhood. Police detained the man earlier Tuesday after a tip that he had a gun at a McDonald's. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones/Tampa Bay Times via AP) Gabriella Angotti-Jones AP
Police investigate at the scene following a lead of a man with a gun at a McDonald's in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday. Howell Emanuel Donaldson, 24, was charged with four counts of first degree murder in connection with deaths in the Seminole Heights neighborhood. Police detained the man earlier Tuesday after a tip that he had a gun at a McDonald's. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones/Tampa Bay Times via AP) Gabriella Angotti-Jones AP

Crime

Suspected Tampa serial killer was born in Charlotte, records show

By LaVendrick Smith

lvsmith@charlotteobserver.com

November 29, 2017 04:42 PM

A man suspected in the recent killings of four people in the Tampa, Fla., region was born in Charlotte, records show.

Police arrested 24-year-old Emanuel Howell Donaldson III on Tuesday evening. He’s accused of shooting and killing three men and one woman in October and earlier this month.

The deaths launched a six-week manhunt in the Tampa neighborhood of Seminole Heights.

Donaldson was born in Charlotte, according to Mecklenburg County records. Records show his parents lived in Charlotte for a few years before moving to Tampa in the early 1990s.
Howell Emanuel Donaldson III, the suspect in a string of four slayings that terrorized a Tampa neighborhood was arrested after he brought a loaded gun to his job at a McDonald's and asked a co-worker to hold it, authorities said. (Tampa Police Department via AP)
AP

Police were called to a McDonald’s in Tampa on Tuesday where Donaldson works, the Tampa Bay Times reported. A coworker at the McDonald’s told police Donaldson had given them a loaded pistol and asked them to hold onto it while Donaldson went to a payday loan business.

Tampa police recovered the gun and said the weapon was connected to the killings, CNN reported.

Donaldson faces four counts of first degree murder.

Researcher Maria David contributed

LaVendrick Smith: @LaVendrickS