Shootings In St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island May Be Related

ST PETE BEACH - The shooting of a Texas man around midnight and someone firing a gun at an Uber driver picking up a passenger about 11:52 p.m. Friday, both along Gulf Boulevard, may be related, the Treasure Island Police Department reported Saturday night. In both shootings, a white car was spotted in the area.

In Treasure Island, police received a call from an Uber driver that someone passing by in another vehicle had thrown an object at her vehicle, creating a hole in a rear window. The window was shattered. The driver and passenger were not injured. Police later confirmed that the damage was caused by a bullet.

While Treasure Island police were conducting their investigation, Pinellas County deputies were responding to a drive-by shooting in St. Pete Beach. Gulf Boulevard runs through both St. Pete Beach and Treasure Island.

A Texas man was shot as he was walking near a St. Pete Beach hotel around midnight Saturday, deputies said. A caller later told police four people in a white Chevy Impala were driving in the area without headlights and the driver may have had a rifle.

The victim was identified as Kurt Alan Lang, 51, of Dallas. Lang suffered non-life-threatening injuries. After he was shot, he walked to the Beachcomber hotel at 6200 Gulf Blvd. and called 911. Lang was walking with his cousin on the west side of Gulf Boulevard near the Beachcomber Beach Resort Hotel when he heard something that sounded like a firecracker. Lang grabbed his chest and soon realized he had been shot. His injury appeared to be consistent with a small caliber bullet.

Lang told deputies he saw a white vehicle driving at a normal speed at the time he was shot. Deputies responded to the caller about an hour later in the area of 6850 Beach Plaza in St. Pete Beach. The caller described the white Impala with a driver, either a Hispanic or white male, hanging out the window with a rifle, deputies said. The caller was not able to provide a detailed description of the suspect.

The caller spotted the car about an hour after Lang had been shot, deputies said. The caller said he saw the emergency vehicles and decided to make a late report to deputies.

A resident at the Treasure Island scene had video surveillance, and an image of the suspect vehicle was captured. Video footage confirms a white sedan was used in the commission of the crime in Treasure Island.

If you have any information on either incident, or if you have information to assist investigators in identifying the suspect vehicle or the suspects, call the Treasure Island Police Department at 727-547-4595.

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