A heavy police presence coalesced at a McDonald's near Interstate 4 in Ybor City Tuesday afternoon, and Tampa Police are being very cautious about saying whether or not the hullabaloo is related to the recent string of murders that have rattled the nearby Seminole Heights neighborhood.

UPDATE: The Tampa Police Department has announced that Howell Donaldson III will face charges in connection with four murders in Seminole Heights. In a press conference late Wednesday night police chief Brian Dugan credited the arrest to the hard work of officers, federal partners and community members. A "Howell Donaldson is innocent" Facebook group — complete with conspiracy theories and scores of thoughtless comments — already has over 2,600 members, because the internet.

Police chief Brian Dugan arrived on the scene shortly after 4 p.m. EDT according to reports, and a red Ford Mustang has been taped off in the parking lot.

A person of interest — whom WFTS reports works at the McDonald's — was placed in the back of a police vehicle which has since left the scene. TPD also confirmed that a gun has been collected from the scene.

Dugan — who addressed the press just after 5 p.m. EDT — said that the person of interest is not under arrest, and that TPD is just following up on one of the more than 5,000 tips the department received. The police chief, however, is “very optimistic” that this particular tip is related to the Seminole Heights murders. He also noted that the evidence gathering and questioning would be an arduous process, and added that this person may very well be innocent.

“It’s going to be a very long night,” he said.

Creative Loafing’s offices are just down the street from the fast food restaurant, and we can confirm that traffic is bananas around there. No word on whether the Burger King across the street has seen an uptick in Whopper sales.

This is a developing story. Watch more above.

This article appears in Nov 23-30, 2017.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...