TAMPA -- Three weeks after a shooting in traffic on I-4 that left a teenager dead, Hillsborough deputies have arrested three people in connection with the crime.
20-year-old Jaris Youngblood is accused of premediated first degree murder. His brother, 22-year-old Jarkese Youngblood, is accused as a principal. Both men and the older Youngblood's girlfriend, 19-year-old Sha'Quandra Williams, are accused of tampering with evidence.
Sheriff Chad Chronister says all three were in Jarkese Youngblood's car the afternoon of August 24th. Eyewitnesses saw someone in that car shoot at another car. The bullet hit a 17 year old passenger who was riding with friends. They drove him to South Florida Baptist Hospital where he died of his injuries.
Chronister says if that driver had lost control, it could have triggered many more fatalities in a chain-reaction pileup. There were concerns that a serial shooter might be prowling the interstate, something Chronister says turned out not to be the case.
Detectives think the shooting may be linked to an ongoing neighborhood feud conducted in person and online between young people in and around Plant City. Detectives say the Youngbloods saw a group they were feuding with while driving down the interstate, and that Jaris Youngblood then rolled down the rear driver's side window and began shooting.
Detectives believe that the I-4 shooting on August 24 may have been linked to an ongoing neighborhood and online feud between young people within and outside of the Plant City area. Following multiple interviews, detectives learned that the Youngblood brothers saw a group of individuals they were feuding with while driving down I-4, which is what led Jaris Youngblood to roll down the rear driver's side window and begin shooting at the individuals while his brother was driving. Williams was also in that car in the front passenger seat, holding her one-year-old baby.
Days after the shooting, detectives say, Williams sold Youngblood's car to a scrap metal yard in Osceola County in order to hide the evidence.
Photo: HCSO