TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Just before midnight on Sunday, shots rang out after an argument in the parking lot of the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay on East Sligh Avenue.
An off-duty Hillsborough County deputy was working as extra security at the Islamic Center during their Ramadan observance and heard the gunfire.
“The deputy was a short distance away and just prior to him going home for the evening, he heard two gun shots. He immediately looked back to the west, through this parking lot and observed a commotion and several hundred people that were here attending prayer, during this Ramadan time, during this month, he saw them running back here to the east. The deputy went towards the gunfire and came in contact with one individual who was holding a gun, another individual who was shot at least two times,” said Major Frank Losat with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Several sources say the man with the gun has a concealed carry permit for his firearm, but was not working in any capacity as a security guard at the Mosque at the time of the shooting.
The sheriff’s office has talked to the man who fired the shots, but has not filed any charges against him.
The sheriff’s office is not identifying the victim, but several of the victim’s friends tell News Channel 8 the victim came to the United States to escape violence in his native Iraq and that he recently became an American citizen.
“He was a good man, he was a handyman, now he is driving a semi-truck,” said Al Bashash.
News Channel 8 is not identifying the victim, but Bashash says he was a frequent critic of the mosque where the shooting happened.
“He was the most vocally critic about how things are run there at the mosque. He always told me there was corruption and people collecting money and keeping it for themselves,” said Bashash.
A spokesperson for the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay denied the shooting had anything to do with the Islamic Center and was just an argument between two men who have apparently had disagreements before.
