Police are still searching for suspects in the case.
Central Florida authorities are desperately seeking answers after three friends were found brutally murdered in a local lake on Friday night. In the moments before his death, one of the victims was able to call his father and report the attack, the local sheriff’s office said.
No one has been arrested in the triple murder.
The three close friends had gone fishing for catfish at a local fishing spot on Lake Streety in Frostproof, Florida, before they were killed, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
The victims were identified as Damion Tillman, 23, Keven Springfield, 30, and Brandon Rollins, 27.
According to the sheriff’s office, Rollins called his father around 10 p.m. Friday and only managed to say “help.” He quickly jumped into his car and went to where his son had said he was going to fish.
“When he arrived, he found his son Brandon barely alive and his two deceased friends,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release. “Brandon was able to say a few things to his father, which we are not publishing at the moment.”
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Saturday they believe Tillman first traveled to the lake and arrived alone. When Rollins and Springfield arrived shortly afterward, Tillman was being hit by unknown attackers. When the two intervened to help their friend, they were shot.
“This is a horrible scene,” Judd said at a press conference. “I’ve been to many murder scenes in my life and this is among the worst I’ve ever been to.”
Rollins’ father had left his home without his cell phone, so he returned to a nearby gas station and called 911, the sheriff’s office said. When the authorities arrived at the scene, the three men were dead.
“We are looking for clues; we need help to solve this crime sooner rather than later because there are one or more, we suspect more, murderers who killed three people in a quiet community,” Judd said.
Judd added that the suspect or suspects may have met the men, saying, “You don’t run into someone here … It’s not like there are a lot of people around here. As you can see, it’s cow pasture and lakes.”
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is offering $ 5,000 for information leading to an arrest.
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