{"id":251868,"date":"2026-04-30T01:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T01:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251868\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T01:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T01:21:10","slug":"man-20-charged-in-shooting-of-fort-pierce-pawn-shop-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251868\/","title":{"rendered":"Man, 20, charged in shooting of Fort Pierce pawn shop manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FORT PIERCE, Fla. \u2014 Fort Pierce police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old pawn shop manager that occurred Tuesday night. <\/p>\n<p>Police say just after 7 p.m. Tuesday, they responded to Cash Out Gold and Silver at 4603 South U.S. Highway 1, for reports of a woman lying on the floor with blood around her. <\/p>\n<p>WATCH: Police chief says victim and suspect did not appear to know each other <\/p>\n<p>Man, 20, charged in shooting of Fort Pierce pawn shop manager<\/p>\n<p>Investigators say two men had entered the business and one shot the woman multiple times before fleeing the scene. <\/p>\n<p>During a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Police Chief David Smith said 20-year-old Landen Julian Ballard of Vero Beach was taken into custody this afternoon in Fort Pierce, and has been charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and violation of probation. <\/p>\n<p>They tracked the suspect&#8217;s route to an area off I-95, and found a discarded magazine and firearm.  <\/p>\n<p>Smith said an employee from another store location became concerned when they called and couldn&#8217;t reach the manager, who they speak with frequently, so he stopped by to check on her, discovered the scene and called 911. <\/p>\n<p>WATCH NEWS CONFERENCE: <\/p>\n<p>Fort Pierce police chief holds press conference on fatal shooting at pawn shop<\/p>\n<p>He said they are still trying to identify the other man in the store, and that there is no indication the victim and suspect knew each other. <\/p>\n<p>Police did not disclose the victim&#8217;s name, but said she is from Palm Beach County. <\/p>\n<p>WPTV went by the shop on Wednesday and saw a sign on the door saying it&#8217;s closed &#8220;until further notice.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact the Fort Pierce Police Department at 772-462-6800. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE, Fla. \u2014 Fort Pierce police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old pawn shop manager&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[110003,61824,171,173,172,215],"class_list":["post-251868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-cash-out-gold-and-silver","tag-pawn-shop","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}