News and Investigations

PCSO detectives have charged 36-year-old April Thompson of Plant City with second degree murder (F-C), armed robbery (F-C), and armed burglary (F-1) after she and her boyfriend ran over a Plant City Police Officer then continued their crime spree into Polk County, at which time her boyfriend was fatally shot by a PCSO deputy sheriff.

The investigation began around 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 15, 2020, when PCSO received a BOLO out of the city of Plant City that a white male and white female suspect, both with warrants, fled from the scene of an armed carjacking in a stolen silver Toyota Tacoma. The BOLO contained information that the suspects were armed and dangerous, and fled Plant City after running over a Plant City Police Officer. The female suspect (Thompson) had also been shot by a Plant City Police Officer while the truck she was in with her boyfriend - 31-year-old Aaron Phillips - was fleeing.

Further information was received that the suspects committed a second carjacking north of Plant City, in the unincorporated area of Hillsborough County, and were then in a blue Toyota truck.

At 1:40 p.m., a PCSO Deputy Sheriff who was in the Bailey Road area searching for the suspects, encountered both suspects in another stolen vehicle, a black Volkswagen, within a trailer park on Bailey Place, just off of Bailey Road in the Willow Oak (Mulberry) area.

While attempting to place Thompson under arrest, Phillips ignored the deputy's commands to stop, and attempted to flee with Thompson in the backseat. While the Deputy was trying to stop Phillips from driving away, he heard a female voice scream, "He's got a gun!" several times, and observed Phillips reach down towards the floorboard. Deputy Sheriff Andre Jackson, in fear for his life, shot the suspect, and the suspect is deceased.

April Thompson, who was in the backseat of the stolen vehicle, was also shot once in the stomach.

She was taken to a local hospital to be treated for her two gunshot wounds (one to the leg by Plant City P.D. and one to the stomach by PCSO). She was treated for her injuries, then transferred to the Polk County Jail. 

A loaded .45 caliber handgun was found in the floorboard of the car.

Both of the suspects already had out-of-county warrants for their arrests before the multi-jurisdictional crime spree began. Aaron Phillips had Hillsborough (PCPD) warrants for armed false imprisonment, kidnapping, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and grand theft. He just got out of state prison after having served 3 years and 10 months. April Thompson had a Polk County warrant for VOP (grand theft and burglary), and a Hillsborough warrant for VOP (dangerous drugs).

Please refer any questions about the crime spree and officer-involved shooting in Plant City to PCPD, and the second carjacking that occurred in Cooper Road in unincorporated Hillsborough County to HCSO.

Standard protocol for all deputy-involved shootings will include four independent investigations. The PCSO homicide unit will conduct a death investigation. PCSO Administrative Investigations will conduct an administrative inquiry. The State Attorney's Office will conduct a separate investigation. The 10th District Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an investigation to determine the cause and manner of death.