SerpApi.Org
A suspect who fatally shot a 47-year-old St. Petersburg sanitation worker as she sat in the cab of a front-end loader in Childs Park has barricaded himself inside a vehicle in Lee County, police said.
The shooting happened about 12:35 p.m. on 12th Avenue South near 41st Street, said Yolanda Fernandez, a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department. The woman, a sanitation technician, was in the cab of the front-end loader when a man shot her at close range and then fled, Fernandez said.
Fernandez said detectives believe the suspect and the woman know each other and that the shooting is domestic in nature.
“This was very targeted, it was not random,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez said police were not yet ready to release the suspect’s name and that investigators don’t believe anyone else is in danger.
“We feel confident that we will be able to bring this to a close,” she said.
In an update shortly after 4 p.m., police said Florida Highway Patrol troopers found the suspect heading south on Interstate 75 in Lee County. He stopped and barricaded himself inside of his vehicle.
The woman worked for the city for 12 years and was a mother of four, Fernandez said. Police are not going to release her name because of Marsy’s Law.
Fernandez said the city is providing access to grief counselors for the woman’s co-workers in the sanitation department.
This is a developing story. Check tampabay.com for updates.
