{"id":161844,"date":"2026-02-19T23:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/161844\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T23:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:04:26","slug":"search-underway-for-teen-accused-of-shooting-killing-16-year-old-girl-in-tampa-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/161844\/","title":{"rendered":"Search underway for teen accused of shooting, killing 16-year-old girl in Tampa: Police"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lqyib4jzh6gmohhx.jpg\" alt=\"PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Tampa shooting leaves 16-year-old girl dead: Police\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; Detectives are continuing their search for a 17-year-old suspect in connection with the shooting that left a 16-year-old girl dead last month, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tampa <\/a>Police Department.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Investigators say Brandon Earle Brown, Jr. is wanted for manslaughter and is believed to be evading arrest.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">According to the TPD, officers responded shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 22 to a home in the 8200 block of North 12th Street. Officers found Miracle Cromwell, 16, dead in a bedroom, suffering from a gunshot wound to her upper body.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/tampa-shooting-kills-1-person-no-arrests-made-tpd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Teen killed in Tampa shooting, no arrests made: TPD<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Detectives say the investigation revealed Brown and several acquaintances, including Cromwell, were on a FaceTime call with another person they knew, when Brown allegedly began waving a tan-colored handgun. After a brief conversation, a single shot was fired, hitting Cromwell.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/brown-pic-2-2.19.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">Courtesy: Tampa Police Department <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Brown left before officers arrived at the scene.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Investigators later recovered a firearm, magazine and ammunition along what they believe was the path where Brown fled the scene, TPD said.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Brown is 5-foot-7 and approximately 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Police say he is known to frequent the Sulphur Springs neighborhood of Tampa.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/brown-pic-1-2.19.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">Courtesy: Tampa Police Department <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">The Tampa Police Victims Advocate has been working with Cromwell\u2019s family to provide support during the investigation.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;Miracle was a young woman with her entire life ahead of her and her family deserves more than just answers, they deserve the closure that comes with justice,&#8221; Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said. &#8220;Our detectives have not stopped since the moment they arrived on scene, and we will not rest until the individual responsible is held accountable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Anyone with information about Brown\u2019s whereabouts is asked to call TPD at 813-231-6130 and reference report number 26-41792.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/t-shooting-2.19.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">Courtesy: Tampa Police Department <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">In addition, Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay is offering a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to Brown\u2019s arrest. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 800-873-TIPS, dialing **TIPS, or through the Florida Crime Stoppers mobile app by selecting &#8220;Tampa.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Tampa Police Department.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; Detectives are continuing their search for a 17-year-old suspect in connection with the shooting that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[630,47,629,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-161844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-crime-publicsafety","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-hillsborough","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-tampa","13":"tag-tampa-headlines","14":"tag-tampa-news","15":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}