Detectives with the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Task Force are investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred in St. Petersburg early Saturday morning.
On March 8, 2025, at approximately 4:10 a.m., St. Petersburg Police officers responded to reports of shots fired in the 2800 block of Freemont Terrace South. The caller reported that the suspect was wearing all black.
Officers Austin Heard, 24, and Steve Blanda, 37, arrived on scene and observed a man matching the suspect’s description standing in the doorway of a parked van. The suspect, later identified as 48-year-old Vernon A. Miller, was holding a firearm. Officers ordered Miller to drop the weapon, but he turned toward them with the firearm in hand. Officer Heard then fired several times, striking Miller in the abdomen.
Miller, described as a transient, was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Officers Heard and Blanda were uninjured. Heard is 24-years-old and has been with the department since March 11, 2024, and 37-year-old Blanda since July 4, 2022.
Detectives recovered a black handgun from Miller and a spent shell casing at the scene that did not belong to law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
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