The man killed in Sunday night’s violent rampage by a suspect who investigators said intentionally struck four people with his car was a sergeant stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, authorities said.
Tech. Sgt. Richard Padilla, 37, was killed when 48-year-old Jeremiah Lewis Bailey intentionally struck him as he was walking on Interbay Boulevard, Tampa police and the U.S. Air Force said.
Padilla was with the 24th Rapid Deployment Squadron of the 24th Special Operations Wing, according to an Air Force news release.
“We are deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of Richie,” Lt. Col. Michael Biederman, 24th RDS commander, said in statement included in the release. “He embodied what it meant to be a warrior. Our deepest sympathies are with Richie’s family and friends as we all mourn the loss of our teammate, mentor, and friend.”
The release said the base was providing counseling services in the wake of Padilla’s death.
“Team MacDill is mourning the loss of another teammate taken from us too soon,” Col. Ed Szczepanik, 6th Air Refueling Wing commander, said in the release. “All of our thoughts are with Tech. Sgt. Padilla’s family and friends. Support agencies, chaplains, first sergeants and leadership teams are here for all who need assistance as we navigate this time of sorrow.”
A post on the Facebook page of Team Defenders, a nonprofit organization that supports military veterans and first responders, says Padilla was hit “while out doing what he loved, running.”
Padilla’s survivors include his mother, two brothers, his partner and her child, according to the post.
“If you knew Richie, you knew your life was infinitely better with him in it,” the post says. “He was a great NCO and even better man.”
Police said Padilla was the third of four victims who Bailey struck with his Honda coupe. Bailey didn’t know any of them.
At least one of the other surviving victims was still in the hospital Tuesday recovering from a head injury.
Jesse Rickett, 43, had bleeding on the brain, his mother MaryAnn Ellis told the Tampa Bay Times by phone Tuesday. Ellis said scans done Tuesday morning showed that the spot on Rickett’s brain was smaller than it was on Monday. He was conscious and talking, though sleeping a lot.
“I’m just thanking God that my son wasn’t the pedestrian that he killed,” Ellis said. “I just can’t believe this kind of tragedy happened here in wonderful South Tampa.”
The spate of violence began about 8:30 p.m. after a chance encounter between Bailey and another man at the Dollar General at the corner of Dale Mabry Highway and Interbay Boulevard.
Police said Bailey’s car was blocking another man’s car at the store and that there was an “argument” between the two men. But the other man, 47-year-old Eric Archield, told Spectrum Bay News 9 that Bailey never spoke.
Archield said he came out of the store to find Bailey’s Honda parked so close to his car that he couldn’t open his driver door.
“So I walk up to him and of course I said some choice words, and he never said one word,” Archield said. “He just looked at me with a crazy look with a cigarette in his mouth.”
Archield said Bailey moved his car but as Archield was heading home, he noticed a pair of lights following him at every turn. He decided to stop at a friend’s house near the corner of West Meadow Street and South MacDill Avenue.
There, Archield told Bay News 9, Bailey got out and threw a chair at Archield and his friend. Archield’s friend got a gun and fired a couple of warning shots. Bailey then gunned the engine and headed toward Archield, who was standing near his car. Archield said when the Honda hit him, he “flew into the air” and hit the ground.
Archield said his friend then fired more shots.
“When I was on the ground, if he didn’t do that, letting them shots off, that man could have honestly run right back over me, just that quick,” Archield said. He said he felt blessed to be alive.
“When I got hit, it messed me up a little bit, but again, you know, the man upstairs, he didn’t want me to go nowhere yet,” he said.
Minutes later, witnesses saw the white Honda at a Mobil station at the corner of MacDill Avenue and Interbay Boulevard. The driver made an abrupt U-turn, heading back north toward MacDill.
A short time later, the Honda left the road and hit Rickett, who was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
After hitting Rickett, Bailey then intentionally struck and killed Padilla as he was walking along Interbay, near South Elkins Avenue.
Minutes later, a Tampa officer saw the Honda stopped on West Wyoming Avenue. Bailey was taking a bike out of the car’s trunk. When the officer ordered Bailey to stop, he discarded the bike, got back in the car and sped off.
A little after 10 p.m., Bailey ran into Timothy Harden, 41, who was trying to cross the street at West Shore Boulevard and Lemon Street with his wife. His wife called 911.
“This car jumped over the curb and swerved to hit him!” Harden’s wife told the dispatcher, according to police.
Harden was injured but alert, police said.
Officers pursued Bailey onto Interstate 275. Police said they believed he was armed, but have not elaborated on why they thought so.
An officer in a patrol SUV pushed the Honda into a spin, video from Tampa police’s helicopter shows. Another marked SUV pushed the Honda onto the shoulder near the barrier wall while still more converged and rammed the car, boxing it in.
Officers shouted at Bailey to show his hands as he got out of the car, an officer’s body camera video shows. Some officers then shouted that he was “reaching,” and seven opened fire. Bailey died at the scene.
Police did not find a gun on Bailey or in the Honda but said Monday that investigators were searching his path of travel.
Three officers were injured during the shooting, possibly by ricocheting rounds or flying debris. Sgt. Joe Ltief and officers Rachel Carr and Joseph Barry were treated at a hospital for injuries that police said weren’t life-threatening.
Police also identified the seven officers who fired at Bailey and the number of years they have been with the department: Santiago Alzate-Castro, two years; Nathan Berry, one year; Andrew Haase, five years; Erik Lopez, four years; Jacob Petit, seven years; and Bryan Velazquez, five years.
Public records show Bailey lived in Tampa. He was released from state prison in 2022 after serving time for attacking an Outback Steakhouse manager in Venice in 2019.
A judge declared Bailey incompetent to stand trial and ordered him to receive treatment in a forensic mental health facility. He returned to court a few months later and was declared to be restored to competency. Thereafter, he pleaded no contest to the charges and went to prison.
About 18 months later, he asked a judge to put an early end to his three-year term of supervision, writing in a letter to the court that he had “learned very valuable lessons.”
“As a result of prison & probation I am a completely restored man!” he wrote.
A judge denied his request, citing his violent criminal history, so he was still on probation at the time of his death.
©2025 Tampa Bay Times. Visit tampabay.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
© Copyright 2025 Tampa Bay Times. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.