Teenagers Arrested After Police Chase Ends in Gunfire

Update, 5:30 a.m.: Three St. Petersburg teenagers have been charged with armed robbery after police said they robbed the Scorpion Tobacco Shop Thursday and then fled from police.

Two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old were charged. 

The store's owner alerted police that the tobacco shop, located at 1116 34th St. N., was being robbed by two armed suspects. He said that one of them was armed with a long rifle.

According to police officers arrived on the scene in marked cruisers and saw nothing unusual outside of the business until they exited their cruisers and began walking up to the store when two suspects ran out of the store.

Police said the suspects got into a Nissan Altima, which was owned by an employee at the tobacco shop. The armed suspects had stolen the keys from an employee during the robbery.

According to police, one of the suspects carried a long rifle and the other was armed with a handgun.

The two armed suspects drove the Altima out the parking area, striking a parked vehicle, and left the scene of the crash before fleeing southbound on 34th Street North.

In the 300-400 block of 34th Street North, the uniformed officer in the lead position of the pursuit fired his department-issued handgun several times when the passenger aimed a long rifle out of the window in the officer's direction, according to police.

The Nissan Altima swerved and struck a marked cruiser stopped along the raised median of 34th Street North in the 300 block. Police said they do not know if this crash was intentional. 

Police said the uniformed officer in the lead position during the pursuit stopped his cruiser and approached the Nissan Altima as the two armed suspects were emerging from the car. This officer, who had fired shots earlier during the pursuit, discharged his handgun again before the two armed suspects were taken into custody.

A third suspect, who police was the lookout during the alleged robbery, has also been charged. 

The officer in the marked cruiser that was stopped on the median is identified as Officer Marc Slagle. 

Slagle, 36, had been working a traffic crash at Central Avenue and 34th Street North when the police pursuit began.

According to police, Slagle drove northbound on 34th Street North to assist the officers in the pursuit, but as the pursuit approached, he stopped his marked cruiser on the raised median of 34th Street North in the 300 block.  

He was stopped on the raised median when the Nissan Altima slammed into the front driver's side of his cruiser.

Slagle received medical treatment at a local hospital and was supposed to be released Thursday night. 

The 16-year-old suspect received a non-life threatening gunshot wound in the leg and is receiving medical treatment at a local hospital.

Police said all three juveniles have prior arrest charges.  Other charges in these events are pending the outcome of the ongoing police investigations.

Earlier, 10 p.m., July 5: Just before 7 p.m. on Thursday, St. Petersburg Police responded to a robbery at Scorpion Tobacco Shop, 1116 34th St. N. As officers arrived, the suspects fled to a vehicle in the parking lot.

According to police, after committing a hit and run accident in the parking lot, the suspects continued southbound on 34th St. N. with law enforcement officers in vehicular pursuit.

Police said that during the pursuit, one of the suspects pointed a long gun at one of the officers. It appeared that one of the officers fired back at the suspects’ vehicle.

The suspects’ vehicle crashed near 3rd Ave. N. and 34th St. Multiple suspects are now in custody, with no life threatening injuries reported. However, one of the suspects did sustain a gunshot wound to the leg, police said.

No other injuries were reported.