3 KILLINGS MIGHT BE RELATED TO DRUGS

TAMPA - Three men slain at a Brandon home late Monday night may have
been involved in drug activity when a group drove from another town to
the quiet neighborhood to kill them, authorities said.

The victims and the attackers were either gang members or had contact
with gangs, Hillsborough County sheriff's Deputy Larry McKinnon said.

Vincent Thomas, 22, Tony Black, 22, and Rafael G. Guadalupe, 21, were
found dead at 507 S. Oakwood Ave. shortly after midnight Tuesday. Two
bodies were found in a shed converted into a video game room,
investigators said. One body was found in the yard.

Another man, Ralph Arroyo, 21, was attacked but survived.

"I don't believe they were back there innocently enjoying their
evening," McKinnon said at a news conference Wednesday morning.

The sheriff's office has not named any suspects, but investigators
have "identified key players" in the crime and know who was there at
the time of the killings, McKinnon said.

The victims and attackers knew one another, investigators said. It
might be drug-related, McKinnon said - not an act of gunmen randomly
driving around and terrorizing neighborhoods.

Investigators have recovered a gun and knife they say were used in the
slayings. The weapons were found in a drainage ditch not far from the
crime scene, McKinnon said.

What is thought to be the attackers' Mercury Cougar - witness reports
initially described their vehicle as a Ford Mustang - was recovered in
Orlando. Evidence in the Cougar suggests it was the car that sped away
from the home after the killings, McKinnon said.

Thomas lived at the home with his wife and two children.

Black was a member of the Bloods gang, detectives said.

Friends of Thomas say they don't believe he was affiliated with gangs.
He was employed as a school bus driver for Armwood High School. He
became a full-time driver this year.

Linda Cobbe, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County school
district, said there is nothing in Thomas' personnel file that
indicates he had ties to gangs.

"We didn't have any evidence of that," she said.

Officials don't have access to personnel files this week because of
the school holidays.

Black's aunt, Beverly Williams, said Tuesday night that her nephew,
who attended King High School, was a quiet person who cared for others.

The family is in disbelief.

"I'm still shocked," said Williams, of Fort Lauderdale. "I just don't
see him in an area where someone would want to shoot."

Thomas lived on a street lined with oaks, across the street from
Oakwood Baptist Church.

"This is a horrible crime," McKinnon said. "This is three murders in a
quiet community."

Agencies from several jurisdictions are working on the case, and
investigators are casting a wide net to find witnesses and suspects,
McKinnon said.

Detectives say they expect to issue arrest warrants within a few
days.