FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Four people were shot Sunday during a Facebook Marketplace transaction for a smartphone in Fort Pierce, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.
The shooting occurred on Avenue R when three suspects arrived in a vehicle to sell an iPhone to a buyer who was near a home when gunfire erupted.
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"There's a vehicle in the middle of the road. It has a couple of bullet holes in it, and there's a lot of shell casings on the ground," St. Lucie County Undersheriff John Bolduc said.
Crime scene investigators recovered more than 30 shell casings at the scene.
All four victims suffered gunshot wounds and were transported to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center. Detectives said they are expected to survive and will undergo surgery.
Detectives believe a fifth individual may have been involved and are actively working to identify and locate that person.
"We know we're looking for at least one more person who fled on foot," Bolduc said. "As it evolves, we keep finding different rabbit holes as we like to say to go down."
Sunday night, detectives executed a search warrant at a residence in the 1900 block of North 37th Street, identified as a location where one of the alleged shooters fled after the incident. During the search, detectives collected additional evidence and multiple firearms, including one possibly involved in the shooting.
Jada Kidd, who lives near the shooting, said he didn't know what was happening after seeing multiple deputies on scene.
"It's always quiet, you know, nothing really, nothing crazy really happens over here," Kidd said. "A lot of police activity in this area, and just was wondering what was going on."
The incident highlights safety concerns with online marketplace transactions.
"The message here is, if you're gonna do a transaction with people that you don't know, go to a safe location," Bolduc said. "At the sheriff's office, we offer a place that has surveillance cameras on it right in front of the sheriff's office."
Anyone with information related to this incident is urged to contact the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office at 772-462-7300 or submit a tip via email at crimetips@stluciesheriff.gov.
