Howell Emanuel Donaldson III, also known as Trai, was born on January 26, 1993. He grew up in Florida and showed a talent for basketball from a young age. He played for the St. John's University Red Storm men's basketball team during the 2011-2012 season.

Donaldson attended Alonso High School in Tampa, Florida. After high school, he went on to play basketball at St. John’s University in New York. His time at the university was marked by his participation in the college basketball team, the St. John's Red Storm.

On October 9, 2017, at around noon, 22-year-old Benjamin Edward Mitchell was shot and killed while waiting at a bus stop near North 15th Street and East Frierson Avenue in the Seminole Heights neighborhood. Mitchell, an African American man, was the first known victim of the serial killer. He had just left his home, which was only a block away, and was on his way to see his girlfriend.

On the morning of October 13, 2017, a city landscape crew found the body of Monica Caridad Hoffa in an overgrown field on East New Orleans Avenue. Monica, a 32-year-old white woman, was shot while walking to a friend's house. The police believed she was killed late on October 11 or early October 12. Her body was found half a mile from where Mitchell was killed, but there was no known connection between them.

Anthony Naiboa, a 20-year-old Hispanic man with autism, was shot and killed on October 19, 2017, around 7:57 p.m. He was on 15th Street near Wilder Avenue after taking the wrong bus home from work. Anthony, originally from the Bronx, New York, was walking towards a bus stop when he was shot in the head. Known as "James Firefox" on SoundCloud, he was a rapper and part of the Furry fandom.

On November 14, 2017, at around 4:50 a.m., Ronald Felton was fatally shot while crossing North Nebraska Avenue. The 60-year-old man was on his way to meet his pastor to prepare for food distribution to needy families. Ronald had been a volunteer at the food bank for over a decade.

The murders were connected based on ballistic evidence, and police increased patrols in the area. A reward of $110,000 was offered for information. On November 28, 2017, Howell Emanuel Donaldson III was arrested at a McDonald's restaurant in Ybor City. Donaldson handed his manager a bag with a gun and asked her not to look inside. She reported it to the police, leading to his arrest.

During the investigation, police found bloodstained clothes in Donaldson's car and matched the shell casings from the crime scenes to his Glock. His phone's location data also aligned with the times and places of the murders. Donaldson's trial was set to begin in 2020, but he pleaded guilty on May 1, 2023, and was sentenced to four life sentences without parole.