In a concerning incident involving youth violence, a 15-year-old boy from Fort Pierce was arrested following a shooting that resulted in two teenagers suffering critical injuries in Port St. Lucie on Tuesday night. The Port St. Lucie Police Department responded to a car crash around 11:58 PM in the 2600 block of SE South Blackwell Drive, where they discovered the two victims with gunshot wounds near their crashed blue Kia, as reported by TCPalm.
While officers attended to the victims—a 16-year-old male with a critical head wound and a 17-year-old female with a leg injury—they witnessed a tan Chevrolet collide with a mailbox. The vehicle then crashed into a swale after police attempted a traffic stop, resulting in the quick arrest of the young driver, who became the central figure in the incident. This series of events was confirmed by the Port St. Lucie Police Department's official X account and detailed in a report by WPTV.
PSLPD Major Crimes Unit Makes Arrest in Overnight Double Shooting
— Port St. Lucie PD (@PSLPolice) October 9, 2024
Last night around 11:58 PM, PSLPD responded to reports of a crash in the 2600 block of SE South Blackwell Dr.
Upon arrival, officers found a 16-year-old male victim with a gunshot wound to his head and a… pic.twitter.com/xtJq2sNpHX
The preliminary investigation shed light on the circumstances that precipitated the shooting. The two victims had reportedly arranged to meet with the 15-year-old to sell him a THC vape cartridge for $80. It was during this transaction that the youth fired a handgun, striking the male victim in the head and the female in the leg, as per information by the Port St. Lucie Police Department Major Crimes Unit.
The suspect, after shooting the two victims, fled the scene, which resulted in the car crash that initially alerted authorities to the incident. The accused teen now faces multiple felony charges, including attempted homicide while engaged in a felony offense, robbery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm under 18 years of age, as detailed by authorities and conveyed in coverage by WPTV. The female victim is undergoing treatment for non-life-threatening injuries, and the male remains in critical condition as of the latest reports.
