ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It's usually a quiet St. Petersburg neighborhood where kids play in the street and residents tend to their lawns, but the silence was shattered when more than a dozen bullets pierced the humid Florida air.
The shootout was captured on multiple home surveillance videos.
Another angle captured a gunman hanging out of the car window.
A witness we identify only as "Lisa" described the mayhem unfolding feet from her front door.
ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska interviewed St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway. Holloway said a lot of these guns are used by teens and are stolen out of unlocked vehicles.
According to statistics provided by St. Pete PD, 251 guns were stolen in 2023. Of those, 173 were taken from a vehicle, 74 from a building, and four from a person. Police recovered 102 of the stolen weapons. This year, from Jan. to July, 103 weapons were taken from a vehicle, 28 from a building, and 50 from a person.
Chief Holloway tells Paluska they are working hard to reach at-risk kids.
Holloway told Paluska that they are tracking down leads and potential suspects thanks to the surveillance videos.
Pasco County mom says dangerous walk to school is putting student lives at risk
"It’s a danger to a life, a student’s life," Cathy Dawson told the ABC Action News I-Team. "You’re not providing a safe walking path, and for me, I’m not okay with that for anybody’s child.”
