TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida woman discovered that a clerk who served her at a Tampa meat market last month is the man accused of murdering her son, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Tara Jones was wearing two laminated images of her 18-year-old son, TeSean “Bama” Blue, who was shot to death in Tampa on Sept. 3 while riding his bicycle, when she went to the Meat Depot Supermarket on Nov. 29, the newspaper reported.
The clerk was looking at the photos and asked what happened.
"I said he was shot for no reason, and he looks at me in my face and says, 'I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am,'" Jones told the Times. "I didn't know he was the one who murdered my son."
On Dec. 4, Tampa police charged Misael Andrew Mora, 18, with second-degree murder with a firearm.
According to an arrest report, a witness told police that Blue bicycled to Mora on a Tampa street, the Times reported. As he rode away, Mora allegedly shot Blue with a .38-caliber pistol.
Blue was taken to a hospital but died from his injuries, WTSP reported.
Mora was arrested Dec. 4 on a probation violation from a 2016 arrest on charges of robbery and battery of a person over 65. During his interview with detectives, Mora admitted to the shooting, the newspaper reported, citing the arrest report.
"Mora stated that he met the victim's mother several days after the murder at his job and he talked with her briefly," the report said. "Mora advised that incident made him feel remorse for what he did."
The detective handling Mora's case, Neal Smith, then called Jones and asked if she remembered talking with the meat market clerk, and she said yes, the Times reported.
"He said, 'The guy who helped you is the guy that murdered your son.' And I just lost it,” Jones told the newspaper.
Mora is now in the Hillsoborough County Jail, WTSP reported. If convicted, Mora could face life in prison, the Times reported.
"I lost a lot of my faith," Jones told the newspaper. “But I'm gradually getting it back."
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