Suspect Identified After St. Pete City Employee Killed in Targeted Shooting

A longtime St. Petersburg sanitation worker and mother of four was fatally shot while sitting inside a city vehicle Wednesday afternoon. Police responded shortly after noon on July 22nd to the 4100 block of 12th Avenue South, where they found the 47-year-old victim inside the cab of a front-loader sanitation truck. She had been shot multiple times and died from her injuries.

The victim had worked for the City of St. Petersburg for approximately 12 years. Her identity had not been officially released at the time of publication. Police described the shooting as targeted and domestic in nature. Investigators said the victim and the suspected shooter, identified as Ladavion King, knew each other and had been involved in an argument before the gunfire.

Suspect Captured After Interstate 75 Standoff

King allegedly fled St. Petersburg and traveled south following the shooting. Florida Highway Patrol troopers later located his vehicle in Lee County after receiving an alert about a homicide suspect who was believed to be suicidal. Authorities said King fled from an attempted traffic stop before troopers used a Precision Immobilization Technique near the Alico Road exit on southbound Interstate 75.

King then barricaded himself inside the vehicle, leading to an armed standoff involving state troopers and Lee County deputies. Shots were fired before he was taken into custody and transported to Gulf Coast Medical Center with serious injuries. No law enforcement officers were injured. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the use of force during the standoff.

Formal charges against King had not been publicly announced at the time of publication. The killing has left city employees grieving the loss of a coworker who spent more than a decade serving St. Petersburg. Grief counselors were made available to employees affected by her death.