TAMPA, Fla. — For the first time, roommates of the man accused of murdering a Tampa HART bus driver are speaking out publicly about bizarre changes in behavior they noticed from their roommate in the week leading up to the attack.
Justin McGriff, 35, was taken into custody Saturday after running from police shortly after the attack. He’s accused of walking up to the driver and saying, “God bless you,” before slashing the driver’s neck in what was described by witnesses as an unprovoked attack.
Rose Evans and Natasha Lewis say they lived with McGriff and helped Tampa police identify him using security video taken from the bus.
“They showed us the video of him on the bus walking down the aisle and we were able to without a doubt say, yes, that was Justin,” recalls Lewis. “He had no body expression to tell you what was going to happen next.”
Evans and Lewis describe their roommate as a quiet humble man with a love for Jesus he got from his adopted mother.
They say, however, about a week ago his personality suddenly changed.
“I’ve been around a lot of different personalities in my life and it was just really really creepy,” said Evans. “He went from really positive to … he made an accusation I went into his bedroom. He made me put my hand on the Bible and swear that I didn’t.”
“His behavior was scaring me,” said Lewis. “He would walk to his room or the bathroom and just burst out laughing and talking to himself out loud. We’ve never seen him act this way before.”
Even more bizarre, the morning before the attack the roommates say they spotted McGriff burning a shirt in the backyard.
“He said it had something on it he didn’t want anymore,” said Evans who now wonders why he was burning his own clothing. She notified police about the incident and now worries why the shirt was burned and about the potential for an additional victim.
Editor's note: 10News is not naming the driver at the request of his family and HART.
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