A woman was shot multiple times overnight while sitting inside a vehicle in the parking lot of Salem's Fresh Eats at 1701 34th Street South in St. Petersburg, and the gunman remains unidentified as of Tuesday morning. Police say the suspect fled the scene in a vehicle immediately after opening fire, leaving investigators with an active manhunt and few public details about what triggered the attack.
According to FOX 13 Tampa Bay, the victim was struck multiple times before the shooter escaped, and St. Petersburg police were still searching for the suspect as of Tuesday morning. A separate report from Tampa Bay 28 confirmed that officials described the victim's condition as unknown and said no other information was available at the time. The woman was rushed to Bayfront Medical Center for treatment, per that outlet's reporting.
The hospital receiving the victim is formally known as Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, a 416-bed medical center that operates Pinellas County's only state-accredited Level II Adult Trauma Center, according to Orlando Health. The facility manages roughly 2,500 trauma patients annually.
A Corridor With a History of Violence
Salem's Fresh Eats is located on 34th Street South in St. Petersburg. The road has seen violence before: in January 2019, a shooting at 34th Street South and 18th Avenue South left two men dead and a third wounded, with police responding to a crowd of 100 people during that double-homicide investigation, as detailed by IONTB.
If the suspect is caught and charged, Florida's statutory framework leaves little room for leniency. Under Florida Statute § 775.087, known as the 10-20-Life law, discharging a firearm during certain enumerated qualifying felonies carries a 20-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, escalating to a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life if the shooting caused great bodily harm, according to the Brancato Law Firm. Separately, under Florida Statute § 784.045, an intentional battery committed with a firearm is classified as aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, per the Law Office of Richard Hornsby.
A City That Had Been Trending Safer
The overnight shooting comes even as St. Petersburg has posted historic public-safety gains. The St. Petersburg Police Department reported that citywide crime fell 16% in 2025, with homicides dropping 44% to just 10 for the year — the city's lowest single-year homicide total since 1967. In January 2025, the department also launched a Florida Department of Law Enforcement-funded Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Program.
Those gains haven't been uniform across the Tampa Bay region. While St. Petersburg logged historic crime drops in 2025, neighboring Tampa saw a midyear uptick in homicides during 2026, according to Major Cities Chiefs Association survey data cited in prior Hoodline reporting, underscoring how firearm violence can fluctuate sharply between neighboring jurisdictions even in a broader downward trend.
Investigation Continues, Tips Sought
The shooting adds to a string of recent gun violence cases across St. Petersburg that Hoodline has tracked in this month's coverage of a separate shooting in which a victim was also rushed to Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital while police searched for a fleeing suspect. Investigators have not released the victim's identity, her current condition, or a possible motive in the Salem's Fresh Eats shooting, and officials said no other information was available as the search for the gunman continued.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the St. Petersburg Police Department through its anonymous Tip411 portal by texting SPPD and the tip to 847411, or by calling the non-emergency desk at (727) 893-7780.
