Police lock up man after DoorDash driver attacked during a delivery, Florida cops say
.jpg "Joseph Killins, 38, was arrested April 21, 2023, according to the Tampa Police Department.")
A man landed behind bars over the weekend after forcing a delivery woman into her car at gunpoint and sexually assaulted her — until her family came to the rescue, according to Florida authorities.
Joseph Killins has been accused of armed kidnapping and armed sexual battery, among other charges, in connection to the attack, the Tampa Police Department said in a news release. The 38-year-old suspect will also be tried for robbery because detectives say he attacked another woman at the same apartment complex where he attacked the first victim. He remained at Hillsborough County’s Falkenburg Road Jail as of Monday afternoon.
Just after 11 p.m. on April 18, the victim, a woman in her early 20s, was making a DoorDash delivery at a Residence Inn in Tampa. That’s when detectives say Killins, armed with a gun, forced the woman back into her car while she was speaking on the phone with her girlfriend. Police say he then held her at gunpoint and made the woman drive about 7 miles to the Belara Lakes Apartments, 8402 N Waterford Ave., where he “sexually battered her.”
The girlfriend “quickly realized that a robbery was occurring,” police said in a previous news release. The driver’s family called 911, tracked the victim’s cellphone and rescued her from the car. Police say Killins responded by firing multiple times, with one shot striking a family member of the victim’s girlfriend before he fled the scene.
READ MORE: DoorDash driver assaulted during delivery, Florida cops say. Then her family saves her
A day after the attack, Killins threw a woman in her early 40s to the ground, punching her and stealing her backpack at the same apartment complex in which the DoorDash driver was assaulted, according to investigators.
The robbery investigation led police to the Tampa Inn, 2901 E. Busch Blvd., where they arrested Killins late Friday night, recovering items “related” to the attack of the DoorDash delivery driver.
“This criminal is now off the streets thanks to the tireless efforts of every Tampa Police Department employee and the assistance provided by members of our community,” Tampa Interim Police Chief Lee Bercaw noted Saturday in the release. “My thoughts remain with the victims. I hope this arrest brings them a sense of comfort knowing that he will now face justice for the crimes he chose to commit.”
DoorDash spokesperson Julian Crowley wrote in a statement to McClatchy News that the company was “appalled by this heinous and abhorrent crime.”
“No one should ever have to endure something as horrific as this and we’re here to support the Dasher in any way we can,” the statement says. “We’ve reached out to the Tampa Police Department to assist their investigation.”
McClatchy staff writer Madeleine List contributed to this report.
