Police are trying to determine what led up to a 26-year-old being killed late Wednesday in east Tampa.
According to authorities, Ricardo McCalop Jr. died overnight at Tampa General Hospital after suffering upper body trauma near North 55th Street and East 28th Avenue.
Multiple witnesses were at the scene, which is spread out for several blocks along 55th Street but few people are cooperating with police, authorities said.
"You’ve got a grieving family. You’ve got a young man that certainly didn’t deserve to have this happen to him tonight," said Tampa Police Lt. Mike Stout. "We need their help to make sure this is an incident we can quickly solve."
Police have not detailed how McCalop was killed, only adding that many people were in the area when he was killed. Most of those people left the scene before police arrived, however, and few have come forward to detail what happened.
Authorities said the killing appears to be some kind of targeted attack.
Police said McCalop had a lengthy criminal history with recent charges of drug possession, delivery and intent to sell. Police are not saying if those recent crimes had anything to do with his murder.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to call them at (813) 231-6130.