Chaos erupts near downtown St. Pete businesses after shooting leaves 7 injured
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Employees of downtown St. Petersburg businesses said chaos erupted after several shots were fired early Saturday morning.
"There were hundreds of people on the sidewalks in the street," St. Pete Police Department spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez said. "Somehow a fight broke out between a few people, and it escalated when they pulled out guns and fired shots."
Three people were shot in their legs and four others have minor injuries, Fernandez said. All the injuries are non-life-threatening.
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The shooting happened on Third Street North near Central Avenue around 12:45 a.m.
Witnesses said people sprinted into nearby businesses for safety, some hiding under the counter of a pizza shop.
"We had several people who didn't know what was going on that were complete innocent bystanders, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Fernandez said.
Police said they need the public’s help identifying a person of interest captured in photos at the scene of the shooting. The young man is wearing a blue and white jersey with the word Sierra and the number zero on the front. The back of the jersey says James with the number zero.
Fernandez said there could be more than one suspect and said police are still combing through surveillance video.
"I'm very surprised, actually," Igor Sirotkin, a St. Pete resident, said. "We come here with our kids, and we never expect anything that to happen. You know, it's a pretty relaxed atmosphere here. We don't worry too much about crime or any violence."
Sirotkin said while the shooting is scary, it won’t stop him and his family from coming to downtown because of how rare an incident like this is there, something Fernandez echoed.
"It is extremely uncommon for something like this to happen down there in downtown St. Pete. It's really safe. I mean, we have thousands of people that come to the restaurants and the bars and enjoy all the adult entertainment that's there," she said. "What we normally see is sometimes alcohol, disorderly conduct. We might have a barroom brawl or something in the wee hours of the morning that our officers might respond to. But usually that's something that's resolved. And because of the increased police presence, we usually don't have any problems in the street as people are walking through and strolling by."
"I think people who've been to downtown St. Pete, they know it's a beautiful area, and we have wonderful restaurants, renowned restaurants and bars that people can come and enjoy safely. Something like this happened because some people made some very poor choices and their actions shouldn't mar the rest of what happens downtown and all the other enjoyment that goes on," Fernandez said.
An officer was 50 feet away from the shooting when it happened thanks in part to the increased police presence downtown every Friday and Saturday night, Fernandez said.
If you have any information about the incident, St. Pete police ask you to call (727) 893-7780 or text SPPD + your tip to TIP411.