Florida Police Searching for Thanksgiving Poker Killer

Juan and Sergio Guitron will be laid to rest today in Ruskin, Fla.

After a shooting that played out like a scene from a modern crime drama, police in Florida say that their search for a man who killed two brothers on Thanksgiving morning is a “top priority.” 

Juan and Sergio Guitron were playing poker with four friends on the front porch of a house in Ruskin, south of Tampa, early on Thanksgiving, when a man wearing a black t-shirt with the word “Sheriff” on the front pulled up in a late model green minivan and identified himself as a law enforcement officer. He ordered five of the men to lie down on the ground; when a sixth poker player, Daniel Beltran, came around the corner, the man began firing shots. 

Beltran was struck, as were the Guitron brothers, cousins Ramon Galan and Richard Cantu, and friend Gonzalo Guevara , who were all lying prone facing the house. The Guitron brothers both died on the scene from execution-style gunshot wounds, while the other men were hospitalized. Beltran and Guevara are both reported to be in stable condition, though Cantu is in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. The owner of the house, Romero Lucas, told police that the shooter was a white man with short, bushy hair between the ages of 30 and 40.

The funeral for Juan and Segio Guitron is scheduled for later today. The Hillsborough County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, says it is following several promising leads as it continues to search for their killer. Anyone with information on the incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS.