14-year-old charged with first-degree murder after St. Pete shooting

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says a 14-year-old was charged with first-degree murder after a shooting in unincorporated St. Petersburg.

PCSO said at about 10:52 a.m. on July 25, deputies responded to reports of a shooting near 27th Street North and 59th Avenue North.

When deputies arrived, they found a 39-year-old woman lying in the roadway with apparent gunshot wounds to her upper body. Deputies performed life-saving measures until the fire department arrived and transported her to the hospital. She was pronounced dead a short time later.

After an investigation, detectives identified a 14-year-old who was seen speeding away on a bicycle after the shooting as the suspect.

Detectives executed a search warrant on the teen's residence on July 26. During the search, detectives found a gun that was confirmed to be the one used in the shooting. They also found several other guns, numerous rounds of ammunition, 3.8 kilograms of cocaine, 53 grams of crack cocaine, 3 grams of MDMA, and $184,964 in U.S. currency.

When detectives interviewed the teen, he confessed to shooting the woman at random. He also told detectives he got the gun from his father's bedroom.

The teen was charged with one count of murder in the first degree and was taken to the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center.

The teen's father, who has a lengthy criminal history that includes 15 felony convictions, was uncooperative with detectives, PCSO said. He was arrested and charged with seven counts of felon in possession of firearm, one count of felon in possession of ammunition, one count of possession of a firearm with altered serial number, one count of armed trafficking in crack cocaine, one count of armed trafficking in powder cocaine, and one count of grand theft firearm. He was taken to the Pinellas County Jail.

The investigation is still ongoing.