FORT PIERCE – The suspect in a fatal shooting of a We Buy Gold and Silver store manager in Fort Pierce later told a friend, “is it bad that I have no remorse,” according to a Fort Pierce arrest affidavit released on May 1.

Landen Julian Ballard, 20, of Vero Beach, is in the St. Lucie County Jail on no bond on a first-degree murder charge and violation of probation in the fatal shooting of Lazaro Rodriguez Vega, 35, of West Palm Beach, inside the Cash Out Gold and Silver store, 4603 U.S. 1, Fort Pierce, about a half-mile south of West Weatherbee Road on April 28.

While police identify the victim as Lazaro Rodriguez Vega, friends of the victim reportedly say she went by the name of Lanessa Rodriguez.

In a Ring surveillance video from inside the store, it showed Ballard and another man entering together at about 5:50 p.m., April 28, and sat across a desk from Vega, according to the arrest affidavit.

Ballard, who could be seen in the video “fiddling with his phone” while he “bounces his leg” several times, and the victim began chatting for several minutes, until Ballard pulled out a gun, later identified as a 9mm black firearm, shooting Vega first in her left shoulder, then six more times until the gun was empty, according to the arrest affidavit.

The video shows Ballard leaving the store by the front door while the person with Ballard apparently left by a back door, although there was no video at the back door, according to the arrest affidavit.

An employee of a Vero Beach gold store came by the Fort Pierce location to drop off jewelry and found Vega lying dead next to her desk in a pool of blood, according to the arrest affidavit.

At around 11 p.m., April 28, a woman went to the Vero Beach Police Department to report that she was involved in a shooting incident in Fort Pierce, according to the arrest affidavit. The woman told police she had no idea that a shooting was going to happen, according to the arrest affidavit.

After being taken to the Fort Pierce Police Department, she told investigators that she was with Ballard, whom she’s known since 2021, and another man, according to the arrest affidavit. Ballard called her via Snapchat at about 3:15 p.m., asking for a ride to sell a gold pendant.

After first going to a store in Vero Beach, Ballard was talking to a woman, possibly the victim, on his cell phone. That person previously offered Ballard a job, the woman told investigators.

After arriving at Cash Out Gold and Silver at about 5:50 p.m., Ballard and the second man went inside while she waited in the car, she told police. When they came out, the other man told her that Ballard shot the woman, she told police.

Ballard told her to drive away and they went to an area near I-95 and Indrio Road where Ballard threw a firearm and a magazine out of the car, she told police.

Ballard then called a man by the name of “CoJack,” told him what he did and told CoJack to meet them at HCA Florida Vero Beach Emergency in Vero Beach, she told police. At the hospital, she, Cojack, Ballard and the other man then left in CoJack’s car, a black sedan, she told police.

At the HCA facility, she said Ballard told her to get in CoJack’s vehicle, a black sedan. Ballard, herself, CoJack and the other man were inside. They then went back to the Cash Out Gold and Silver store because Ballard seemed to intend to rob the place, the woman told police. After seeing police at the store, they then drove back to Vero Beach, she told police.

A 9mm handgun and seven 9mm cartridge casings near the Indrio Road offramp were recovered by officers, which included Port St. Lucie Police, St. Lucie County, Indian River County and Martin County sheriff’s deputies.

Police reported finding Ballard at his mother’s home in Fort Pierce, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. Ballard told the woman that he was at his mother’s home and that he was planning to leave for New York during a monitored phone call that Fort Pierce Police set up with the woman, according to the arrest affidavit.

Police are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting and the case remains active.