FORT MYERS, Fla. (CBS12) — A suspect is hospitalized after authorities said they killed a city employee, fled a traffic stop and barricaded themselves inside a vehicle after being confronted by law enforcement on Interstate 75.
According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, officers responded to a reported shooting on 12th Avenue. Police said the victim was a 47-year-old woman who had worked as a St. Petersburg sanitation technician for 12 years.
Police said the woman was sitting inside her front-loader sanitation truck when she was shot and killed. She lives behind four children.
Investigators said the suspect and the victim knew each other, and the shooting was targeted.
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The suspect then fled the scene and drove south. The Florida Highway Patrol said troopers received a BOLO alert indicating the suspect was believed to be suicidal.
FHP said troopers located the suspect in Lee County and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the suspect fled. The pursuit ended after troopers performed a PIT maneuver near the southbound Exit 128 ramp at Alico Road on Interstate 75.
Authorities said the suspect refused commands and barricaded himself inside the vehicle.
State troopers and deputies with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office eventually took the suspect into custody. The suspect was hospitalized with serious injuries.
No law enforcement officers were injured.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the scene.