Man robbed Florida store while under surveillance, cops say

A robbery suspect under police surveillance managed to ditch undercover cops — just long enough to rob another Florida store, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

It happened Wednesday, Aug. 30, in St. Petersburg and the suspect was captured in a dramatic chase as Hurricane Idalia was impacting the area, officials said in a news release.

“Undercover detectives were conducting surveillance on 22-year-old Tyron Davis, who … was suspected of committing two armed robberies that occurred in St. Petersburg August 26 and August 28,” the sheriff’s office reports.

“The undercover detectives lost contact with Davis (and) were then notified of a just-occurred armed robbery at the Mobil station … where the suspect matched the description of Davis.”

Detectives “relocated Davis” and attempted a traffic stop. However, the vehicle fled while “Davis leaned out of the passenger window from the waist up and fired multiple rounds at the undercover detectives,” officials said.

The two vehicles exchanged gunfire before Davis’ vehicle crashed into a pole near the intersection of 10th Avenue South and 12th Street South, officials said.

Davis was captured and found to be uninjured, officials said. A female had been driving the vehicle, but her identity and condition were not released.

Eight to 10 shots were fired at the pursuing police car, but the detective was not hit, officials said. Two bullets were found lodged in the car, officials said.

Davis is expected to face a series of charges, officials said.

“It’s a scary situation for everybody,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a news conference. “We’re lucky that nobody else was hurt.”

Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 storm at 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday near Keaton Beach, Florida. Pinellas County, on Florida’s west coast, was spared the worst of Idalia, but the region was inundated with rain and storm surge, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

This story was originally published August 31, 2023, 11:30 AM.