According to police, the shooting happened between 6 and 7 p.m. on April 28 at Cash Out Gold and Silver on South U.S. Highway 1.
The initial investigation indicates that two men entered the business and interacted with the victim—identified by police as 35-year-old Lazaro Rodriguez Vega of Palm Beach County—before one of the men shot her multiple times and then fled the scene.
At a news conference held April 29, Fort Pierce Police Chief Dave Smith said an employee of another location had been in touch with Rodriguez Vega, who manages the Fort Pierce store, throughout the day but later was unable to get ahold of her.
He decided to stop by the shop on his way home to check on Rodriguez Vega. He found her dead inside the store and called 911 around 7:15 p.m.
Smith said during the news conference that video surveillance footage from both in and around the store allowed police to track the suspect’s route after he left the pawn shop.
They found a gun and a discarded magazine clip that led them to the suspect, identified by Smith as 20-year-old Landen Julian Ballard of Vero Beach, Florida.
Ballard was arrested at his mother’s home in Fort Pierce on April 29 and charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and violating his probation.
Smith said additional charges may be forthcoming.
Police are still working to determine the motive behind the shooting.
One of the store’s employees, Tina Dirkes, told CBS 12 that on the evening of the shooting, she was supposed to be at the pawn shop helping Rodriguez Vega with a job interview. She said the interviewee went to a different location and was redirected to the Fort Pierce store.
Smith said during the press conference that Ballard had visited the Cash Out Gold and Silver location in Vero Beach, where he was told to go to the Fort Pierce store.
The chief said nothing was taken from the pawn shop following the shooting, though a news report from local ABC affiliate WPBF states that Ballard—who has been charged with theft and burglary in the past, according to police—was seen on video trying to get into the cash register before leaving the store.
The other individual who entered the store with Ballard was present when the shots were fired but was in a different section of the store.
Police don’t believe he was directly involved in the shooting, Smith said, but still are working to identify him, as he is considered a “person of interest” in the case.
Anyone with information on the shooting at Cash Out Gold and Silver is asked to contact the Fort Pierce Police Department at 772-462-6800 or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers.