TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In the heart of Ybor’s nightlife scene in the early morning hours of Oct. 29, 2023, a night full of fake horror quickly turned into real terror.
“It was just really odd to see the crowd become kind of panicked, not sure where a safe place was to go,” Victoria Burlarley said.
Tampa police said 20-year-old Harrison Boonstoppel and 14-year-old Elijah Wilson were shot and killed with 16 others caught in the crossfire.
“It was ghost town in Ybor City the next day, the next week, the next month, two months later,” 7th & Grove General Manger Tatiana Brown said.
Two of the suspects charged in connection with the mass shooting were in court this week.
Tyrell Phillips is facing murder charges, accused of shooting and killing Wilson. Dwayne Tillman is accused of returning fire and shooting into the crowd of people as Phillips ran away.
Burlarley said immediately, everything was different.
“I did see a very steep decline in nightlife after, between working at the nightclub and seeing people not willing to stand out there in the line,” she said. “A lot of posts between Facebook or Instagram saying you couldn’t catch me out there, you couldn’t pay me to go to Ybor.”