HOLIDAY, Fla. (WFLA) — The Pasco Community is shaken tonight, following the brutal murder and dismemberment of an Uber Eats driver.
Sheriff Chris Nocco said an Uber delivery driver was just trying to earn a living, when he was killed making his last delivery of the day.
“I have personally prayed for his wife and family,” said a neighbor who did not want to be identified because of safety reasons. “Once I found out what happened, my heart goes out to them. I can imagine the trauma and her soul going on.”
This Holiday neighborhood is rattled.
Court records show 59-year-old Randall Cooke’s wife reported him missing on April 19 when he stopped responding to text messages. Investigators tracked down Cooke’s last location to a home on Moog Road in Holiday. Nocco said investigators found Cooke’s remains in garbage bags.
“It intensifies. The fact that I have to be mindful of who is surrounding me and who is surrounding my children,” said the neighbor.
Deputies arrested 30-year-old Oscar Solis in connection to Cooke’s murder. News Channel 8 spoke with Cooke’s wife on the phone. She and her daughter are understandably devastated. The neighborhood said they are praying for healing for the family.
“This is absolutely a horrific crime of passion. This person is demonic. What he did was demonic,” said Sheriff Nocco.
Nocco said Solis is a convicted felon who was recently released from an Indiana prison after serving four years for assault and burglary. He said Solis also has ties to the M-S 13 gang.
Despite the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office saying there is no indication that this case is related to gang activity, neighbors are still worried.
The sheriff’s office does not have a gang suppression unit. However, the FBI has an M-S 13 national gang task force. In February, the Department of Justice said it charged 13 of the highest-ranking MS-13 leaders in the world with racketeering and terrorism charges.
