Benjamin Mitchell and Anthony Naiboa crossed paths as students a few years ago at Middleton High School in Tampa, Fla., and the city’s Route 9 bus brought their lives together once again this month — with deadly consequences.
At about 9 p.m. on Oct. 9, Mr. Mitchell, 22, was waiting at a bus stop on 15th Street in the city’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, roughly a block from his home, on his way to see his girlfriend. He was shot and killed next to the bus stop, the police said.
Around 8 p.m. on Oct. 19, Mr. Naiboa, 20, was walking a block away on 15th Street toward a Route 9 stop after he had mistakenly jumped on the wrong bus to get home. He was shot and killed on the sidewalk, the police said.
In between their deaths, a city landscape crew about to mow an overgrown field in Seminole Heights on the morning of Oct. 13 stumbled upon the body of Monica Hoffa, 32, a half-mile from where the men died. She had been fatally shot while walking to a friend’s house, her father said.
The three homicides — all unsolved, with no meaningful connections except their proximity and manners of death