ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — One person was arrested in connection with a shooting that left a man dead in St. Petersburg last week.

Corey Battle, 47, was arrested for second-degree murder in the shooting death of Jerome Smith, 44, the St. Petersburg Police Department announced.

On Thursday, October 30, around 8:47 p.m., a neighbor called the police and said they found Smith bleeding at his home at the 800 block of 21st Avenue South.

Officers arrived at the home, where they found Smith with a gunshot wound, but he was still alive. Smith was taken to the hospital, where he died three days later, SPPD said.

An investigation determined that Battle and Smith knew each other and had a dispute at Smith’s home that escalated into a shooting, officers said. Battle claimed he shot Smith in the head because he pulled a gun on him first, according to an arrest report.

The arrest report stated Battle told police he threw the gun into a waterway in south St. Pete and disposed of his clothing off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Battle was arrested and charged on Sunday.

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