Tampa police have arrested a suspect accused of fatally shooting a man along Nebraska Avenue last month.
Michael Phillip James Knobloch, 36, turned himself in Friday and was arrested on a first-degree murder charge in connection to the Sept. 22 shooting of Tracey Austin Rolle, according to the Tampa Police Department and a court document.
Knobloch told police he shot Rolle after he tried to burglarize his home that day, according to a motion prosecutors filed to keep Knobloch in jail until his case resolves.
Police responded shortly after 4 p.m. that day to a call about a shooting in the 10300 block of Nebraska Avenue and found Rolle, 63, lying on the ground with a gunshot wound, the motion states.
Rolle died four days later at Tampa General Hospital. Hillsborough’s medical examiner determined he died from complications from the gunshot wound.
Michael Phillip James Knobloch, 36, is seen in a Hillsborough County booking photo Friday after his arrest on a first-degree murder charge in connection to the fatal shooting of Tracey Austin Rolle, 63, in Tampa on Sept. 22.
Detectives obtained surveillance video from a Hillsborough Transit Authority bus that showed Knobloch “engage” Rolle as Rolle walked away from him, the motion states. Knobloch had a handgun in his right hand.
As the bus passed, Knobloch approached Rolle, who then immediately fell to the ground in the spot where police later found him, the motion states. Knobloch rode away on a bicycle, heading west.
Other surveillance video showed Knobloch enter the Jersey Mobile Home Park near 201 E. Linebaugh Ave., about half a mile west of the shooting scene. Detectives on Friday went door to door in the mobile home park, leaving flyers with still images of the suspect in the shooting.
A woman who lives at one of the homes later approached a detective and said Knobloch is her son. After receiving the flyer, the woman said she texted Knobloch to check on him and he responded.
“They are looking for me, I have to turn myself in,” Knobloch texted his mother, according to the motion. “Shot the guy that tried to break in. I love you.”
Knobloch turned himself in at Orient Road Jail. During an interview with detectives, Knobloch identified himself in the surveillance images and said that on the day of the shooting, he was working when he received an alert on his phone and through a security video app saw Rolle try to enter the enclosed porch of his home.
Knobloch said he left work, went to his house, armed himself with a handgun, chambered a round and used a bicycle to search the area for Rolle “in a grid pattern” for about 90 minutes, the motion states. He said he found Rolle waiting at a bus stop. When Rolle got up and began to walk away, Knobloch confronted him about the attempted burglary.
When Rolle turned and asked Knobloch what he was going to do about it, Knobloch shot him once and rode away, according to the motion.
Knobloch said he loaded the bike into his van and drove to Oldsmar, where he threw the bike and the gun into a canal. He also disposed of the clothing he was wearing during the shooting.
Knobloch was being held in Hillsborough’s Falkenburg Road Jail without bond. In the pretrial detention motion, prosecutors argue he is a danger to the community and should be held without bond until his case is resolved. A hearing on the motion is set for Tuesday.
Court records did not list an attorney for Knobloch as of Monday.