In 2008, Tavari Grant was named to the Tampa Tribune’s All-County team after his junior year at Armwood High School. He transferred to Tampa Bay Tech his senior year.

However, on April 6th, friends of Grant grew worried about his transformation. He had posted a picture of himself on Facebook. The pictured displayed him with unkempt hair, and a face covered with tattoos.

Tampa Police investigators said that was indicative of the slide Grant took that landed him in jail on a double murder charge.

Early last Sunday morning, homicide detectives said Grant walked into a house on Van Buren and shot Kiara Brito, 16, and her brother, Jeremi, 13, several times in the head.

Grant, 18, was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of murder and home invasion robbery.[private]

Police said Grant and Charles Waits went to the home in the 3000 block of Van Buren 6 a. m. Sunday to rob the Britos. Waits, 19, was friends with Kiara and Jeremi, so they were comfortable opening the door when he knocked, according to police spokesperson, Laura McElroy.

Grant and Waits reportedly took jewelry, electronic equipment and maybe cash from the home.

Grant was a very promising athlete until failing grades made him ineligible to play football.

According to authorities, on August 16, 2010, Grant was arrested for giving a false name to an officer. During that time, his hair was short and he had no tattoos on his face. A week later, a photo depicted him sitting in the rear seat of a car with a blue bandana around his face dark shades covering his eyes, and the letter G tattooed on his left arm.

On November 10, 2010, Grant posted a picture of his first mug shot on his Facebook page, with the notation, “Can’t Hold It In No Moe.” By February, Grant’s appearance began to progressively change in future mug shots.

Police spokesperson, Laura McElroy, said they haven’t officially charged Waits with murder but they are trying to get him to talk more about the incident.

“We no longer consider Waits a person of interest. He’s now considered a murder suspect, and we will continue to try and get more information from him on the incident.”

McElroy also said the report of shots fired at the corner of Van Buren and MacDill involved a witness trying to get the license plate number off the car that was seen fleeing the home after the shootings.

“The occupants saw the witness writing down the tag number, and shot at them. The witness wasn’t hurt.”[/private]