Some University of Tampa students living off campus are wary in the wake of a shooting last week outside the Vintage Lofts at West End apartment complex. On Sunday, Feb. 10, two armed suspects robbed a 29-year-old Domino’s Pizza delivery driver and shot him in the stomach, according to ABC News.
Detectives are still investigating the incident. The driver is in stable condition.
“I was very surprised,” said sophomore management major Lindsey Lamb, who was in her Vintage Lofts apartment when she heard the gunshot. “I knew that South Tampa wasn’t the safest area. However, I never expected such a dangerous situation to occur in such close proximity to where I live.”
Mitch Nostrand, a junior accounting major who has lived at the Lofts for almost two years, was also in his apartment at the time of the shooting. He did not hear the shot, but received a text from a neighbor informing him of the incident. He then saw the street visible outside his window “swarmed with cops blocking off the scene.”
This is not the first crime that has occurred since Nostrand became a Vintage Lofts resident. Nostrand and his roommate had their locks cut from their bikes and stolen from the first floor of the Lofts parking garage during Nostrand’s first year living there. “I now keep my bicycle in my room,” he said.
Nostrand also spoke of another occasion when storage units at the apartment complex were broken into. “I was able to talk to one of the guys who lost some valuables and he said thousands of dollars worth of signed baseballs were stolen,” he said.
Additional security cameras were installed within the complex after this incident.
Nostrand said the incident will not change his daily routine, but he will refrain from walking alone in the South Tampa area again. “I have walked back from South Howard and other places before,” he said. “Now I realize that probably was not the best idea.”
Although it has been shocking, the safety hazard has not stirred up as big of an issue in other areas of Tampa.
Chelsea Spruance, a sophomore psychology major who resides in the Madison at SOHO apartments in downtown Tampa, said the shooting has not affected her off campus living. “This is mostly because I live at Madison at SOHO, which has a much more heavily trafficked and upper-class area surrounding it compared to the area surrounding the lofts,” she said.
Spruance has a car and drives to and from campus. Separate students employ various means of transportation, according to Linda Devine, Vice President for Operations and Planning at UT, including bus, carpool, cab, bicycle and by foot.
“I think that [transportation safety] depends on the person’s situation, taking into account the distance and time of day,” said Devine. The recent robberies near campus have occurred mainly at night.
Devine also recommended the use of the university website for students looking to live off campus. The Residence Life page offers information about off campus housing and provides a link to the Tampa Police Department’s crime activity map.
“We all want the same end—a safe campus and community,” said Devine.
Kirby Jay can be reached at kirby.jay@spartans.ut.edu