TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Police Department has arrested a pastor who was involved in an armed confrontation at a District 5 City Council community forum last week.
According to police, officers responded to a report of an “altercation involving an armed man at 2005 N. Lamar Avenue” just before 8 p.m. on Thursday. A TPD release said the initial altercation escalated “when the suspect pointed a gun at the victim, putting him in fear for his life.”
At the time, a city council forum for the District 5 runoff involving candidate Naya Young was beginning to end.
Initially, officers detained the suspect — pastor Elvis Piggott, 37, of Tampa — and questioned him. Tampa police said the victim of the altercation had left before officers arrived, but no injuries were reported.
In an interview with 8 On Your Side last Friday, Piggott said his 2-year-old son was present at the confrontation and that “bad actors, bad behavior, took place, for no reason.”
“I’m just really putting that situation in the hands of Tampa Police Department, as well as our state attorney’s office, to really investigate, and I believe that they’ll come up with the right conclusion of the matter,” Piggott told reporter Victoria Lucas.
The Tampa Police Department continued to investigate the matter, gathering additional evidence and witness statements before getting an arrest warrant for Piggott on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and improper exhibition of a firearm.
The suspect surrendered himself on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at the Orient Road Jail.
“Our community should know that while not every arrest is immediate, every investigation is thorough,” Chief Lee Bercaw said. “The detectives assigned to this case have worked with focused determination to gather all the required information needed, as they do with every investigation.”
In a Tuesday Facebook post, Piggott said he would address his followers in an evening livestream.
“The mayor and the chief of police are always going to be angry when you speak up against their sad agenda,” he said.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
