A week after a U.S. Army soldier was brutally attacked and robbed by a feral gang of four young black men at around 3 a.m. in a downtown street in Tampa, Florida, the authorities have arrested two men.
The soldier is Sgt. Johnny Aparico, who is assigned to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
First, a reminder of how savage the attack was:
From beginning to end, the vicious beating and kicking the four thugs inflicted on Sgt. Aparico took only 40 seconds (I timed it). If this could happen to a 24-year-old male soldier, imagine what it would be like for the rest of us: young and old women, out-of-shape middle-aged men, feeble elderly men….
The AP reports that 18-year-olds Geroshe Lewis and Lerome Eugene Howard Jr. were charged Friday with aggravated battery and robbery in connection with the attack on Sgt. Aparico. Police are still searching for the other two suspects.
Fox13 Tampa has a more detailed report on the arrests. Josh Casio reports that a man, Steven Kamer, who lives in the neighborhood where the violent attack took place was “shocked” by the attack.
Kamer was classmates at Tampa’s Robinson High School with one of the attackers, Geroshe Lewis. Kamer says rumors were swirling on campus that the senior – who according to his Facebook page wants to be a music star – was one of the suspects beating Sgt. Aparicio on the surveillance footage: “For the past week everyone was talking about it. Everyone said [Lewis] did it; but it’s rumors.”
An official with the Hillsborough County School District says Lewis will not be allowed back at school due to the arrest.
Howard is already out of jail. He posted a bond of $15,000 just before 5 AM Saturday and was released. Lewis is being held on a bond of $50,000 according to arrest records.
I want — and I want all of us — to know what these two punks look like. But the AP article has no accompanying photo(s); MyFox Tampa Bay has just this photo, with no identification of who this suspect is:
So I went on Tampabay.com to search for mugshots of the two suspects.
Here’s the mugshot of Geroshe Lewis:
Geroshe Lewis
And here’s the mugshot of the other, Lerome Howard:
Lerome Howard
Gosh, do you think President Barack Obama will say “If I had a son, he’d look just like Lerome Howard or Geroshe Lewis”?
Tampa Police Department says ever since the surveillance video of the attack went public, they’ve been receiving tips from the public. The PD hopes the tips will continue.
Winters & Yonker, a local law firm in Tampa, had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the four attackers. The reward is now increased to $16,000.
~Eowyn
