Silvio Izquierdo-leyva

Mass Murderer

Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva and the 1999 Tampa Hotel Massacre

Overview

On December 30, 1999, Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva carried out a deadly shooting rampage at the Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel and several nearby locations in Tampa, Florida. The violence began inside and around the crowded hotel shortly after 3:00 p.m., only two days before the beginning of the new millennium. Four hotel employees were killed, three other people were wounded, and a fifth person was murdered during Izquierdo-Leyva's flight from the property. Izquierdo-Leyva was a 36-year-old Cuban immigrant who had been employed as a housekeeper at the hotel for only about one month. Armed with two handguns, he moved through different sections of the resort and opened fire on fellow employees without warning. He then escaped from the hotel through a series of attempted and completed carjackings before Tampa police officers captured him less than half an hour after the first shots were fired.

Background of Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva

Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva was born in Cuba in approximately 1964. In 1995, he and his brother Pedro reportedly left Cuba by raft and reached the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. Izquierdo-Leyva later settled in Mobile, Alabama, where he lived from approximately 1996 until 1998. He eventually moved to Tampa, Florida. Izquierdo-Leyva had displayed serious violence before the Tampa massacre. In 1997, while employed at a metal factory in Alabama, he reportedly entered a coworker's apartment and stabbed the man in the leg with a kitchen knife. Despite that incident, he was later able to obtain firearms legally. By late 1999, Izquierdo-Leyva was living in Tampa with his girlfriend, Adriana Ordonez. He had a young daughter who remained in Cuba. In November 1999, approximately one month before the murders, he returned to Cuba for a 21-day visit with relatives and friends. After returning to Florida, he began working as a housekeeper at the Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel in Tampa's Rocky Point area.

The Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel

The Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel was a large waterfront resort located near Tampa International Airport. On December 30, 1999, the property was crowded with employees, tourists and college football fans who had traveled to Tampa for the upcoming Outback Bowl between Purdue University and the University of Georgia. Izquierdo-Leyva left his home for work at approximately 8:30 a.m. that morning. His girlfriend spoke with him by telephone at about 9:30 a.m. and later said that he appeared normal. He reportedly told her to prepare their clothes so they could do laundry after he returned home. Nothing in the conversation suggested that he was about to commit mass murder. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Jose Aguilar 40 yr old Male

Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva