Gabriel Thompkins, a 30-year-old Black man, was killed in Tampa, Florida, on September 13, 2025. In the early morning hours, outside Flexx Sports Bar & Ultra Lounge on East 7th Avenue in Ybor City, a dispute between two groups spiraled into violence. Police said a 22-year-old man had been removed from the business for disorderly conduct, left, then returned with a gun; as he approached the club again, brief words were exchanged and shots were fired.
Officers positioned nearby rushed in as gunfire erupted, found Gabriel Thompkins critically wounded, and began aid before he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Another adult man suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the same encounter.
Authorities quickly detained the suspected shooter. Tampa police reported that the individual—described only as a 22-year-old male—was taken into custody at the scene and was cooperating with investigators. Local outlets echoed that account, noting that the man who had been kicked out of the bar returned armed and that officers intervened immediately. Officials did not release the suspect’s name in initial statements, and early reports did not specify publicly filed charges, only that one person was in custody as the homicide investigation proceeded.
Within days, the man who died was publicly identified as Gabriel Thompkins, age 30. Funeral notices and memorial pages confirmed his name, age, and the date and place of his death, aligning with the police timeline of the Ybor City shooting outside Flexx Sports Bar & Ultra Lounge. Services were arranged through a Tampa funeral home, underscoring the community’s swift acknowledgment of the loss and providing context to the brief, volatile confrontation that ended his life.
