Jeremi Brito dies after home invasion shooting, sister Kiara also killed

"UPDATE: Tampa police say a 13-year-old boy who was shot while in his home has been pronounced dead. His older sister was also killed in the shooting.
According to a police statement, Jeremi Brito was pronounced dead at Tampa General Hospital Monday afternoon.
Police say he and 16-year-old Kiara Brito were the only ones home early Sunday morning when the shooting occurred. They say the children were shot multiple times. Police have said the house was targeted and it doesn't appear the shooter forced his way inside.
Neighbors told police they heard gunshots and called 911.
Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of those involved. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

Original Story:

Tampa, Florida -- Students are mourning the loss of a classmate after she was gunned down in her own home, while her 13-year-old brother is fighting for his life.
At about 7:45 Monday morning, Robinson High School's principal is expected to speak over the PA system inside the South Tampa school.
Principal Laura Zavatky is expected to tell her students about what happened, and then let them know grief counselors will be available all day.
Then, she'll have to ask them to somehow concentrate. This is the last week of school; students have final exams and more on their minds, as well.
Hundreds of students already know this awful story. Sunday night, about 200 classmates and neighbors gathered in front of the house on Van Buren Drive -- now a crime scene -- and lit candles.
Police say the home just north of MacDill Air Force Base had been targeted for a home invasion, but won't give more details on why.
At about 6 a.m. Sunday morning, neighbors say Kiara and Jeremi Brito were home alone. Someone burst into the house and shot both the 16-year old girl and 13-year old boy.
Jeremi Brito is a sixth-grader at Madison Middle School. As of our last update, he's in critical condition at the hospital.
His sister Kiara did not survive.
She was a point guard on the Robinson High basketball team. Her friends say she was a very good student, with dreams of heading off to college after her upcoming senior year.
"[Jeremi] would stay away from trouble. He was like a little brother and my best friend, and I've known him for about 6 years," said friend Aria Procko.
"Kiara -- I go to school with her and she was like my big sister. And when I woke up this morning I just started bawling crying."
Police haven't said where the children's mother was Sunday morning. Some neighbors say it's not uncommon to see strange activity at the house, including cars coming and going at all hours.
The students coming back to class at Robinson on Monday will continue to have a lot of questions. As far as suspects go, police have not released any information about whom they may be looking for."

http://origin.tampabays10.com/news/a...ra-also-killed

Mom of suspect says he didn't kill Tampa teens:

"Tavari Grant and Charles Waits go way back.
"They were friends since they were 6," says Tavari Grant's mother, April Grant. "They played sports together. They hung out together."
That's not all the two men, both now 18, did together, according to Tampa police.
Police say Grant, once a star football player at Armwood High School, walked into a house on a dead-end street early June 5 and shot to death Kiara Brito, 16, and Jeremi Brito, 13. Waits, once a football star at Spoto High School, knew the Brito family, police say, and the teens were comfortable enough with him to open the door to him in the pre-dawn.
Grant was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of murder and home-invasion robbery. Waits was arrested June 6 on outstanding warrants on drug charges. Police and his lawyer, Tav Gomez, say they expect additional charges.
Police say that in his statement to investigators, Waits told them he was forced to drive Grant to the Brito house for the purpose of robbing them.
April Grant says she spoke to her son in jail after the arrest and he told her it didn't happen like that.
"Tavari didn't do it," says Grant about the killings. "He may have been caught with incriminating evidence, but he says he had nothing to do with it. He just told me he didn't have anything to do with it and that was the end of the conversation."
Grant also disputes what her son's former coaches and on-line friends say about an apparent downward spiral. His coaches say he stopped caring about grades and football. His online friends worried about his appearance as his hair grew unkempt and he sported tattoos of a gun, a skull and a dollar sign on his face.
Nothing triggered it," she says, "because he didn't do it. He may have gotten a couple of tattoos and not looked good physically, but at the same time, he did not switch out and go crazy."
Tavari Grant may have "stupid hair on his head," says his mother, but "Waits is a badder person" based on his criminal record, which includes drug and battery charges.
Aside from the arrest records, says Grant, Waits was the one who knew the Britos.
"We don't know them at all," she says. "Tavari did not know them. Charles is the one who knew the family." "

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-ne...ens-ar-237076/

Video:
http://video.tbo.com/v/40907010/memo...remi-brito.htm