Detectives Investigate St. Petersburg Police Department Officer Involved Shooting (25-027)

ST.PETERSBURG –  Detectives assigned to the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Task Force are investigating an officer-involved shooting in the City of St. Petersburg.

On Saturday, March 8, 2025, at approximately 4:10 a.m., St. Petersburg Police Department officers responded to the area of 2800 Freemont Terrace South for reports of shots fired. The caller indicated the suspect of the shooting was wearing all black.

According to detectives, when Officer Austin Heard and Officer Steve Blanda arrived in the area, they observed a subject matching the description of the suspect, later identified as 48-year-old Vernon A. Miller. Miller was wearing all black and standing in the doorway of a parked van. Officers Heard and Blanda observed Miller with a firearm in his hand and gave him verbal commands to drop the firearm. Miller turned towards the officers with the firearm, at which time Officer Heard fired several times, striking Miller in the abdomen.

Miller was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Officer Heard and Officer Blanda were both uninjured.

Detectives located a spent shell casing in the scene, which did not belong to law enforcement. Miller was armed with a black handgun. 

The investigation continues.

In 2020, the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Task Force was created to ensure the investigations conducted into law enforcement use of deadly force are thorough, complete, and objective. The purpose of this task force is to make sure that officer-involved shootings in Pinellas County are investigated by an independent agency and not by the agency involved in the use of deadly force.

Additional Information:

Vernon A. Miller (Suspect – Injured)
DOB: 01/25/1977
Address: Transient

St. Petersburg Police Officer Austin Heard (Uninjured)
Age: 24
Hire Date: 03/11/2024

St. Petersburg Police Officer Steve Blanda (Uninjured)
Age: 37
Hire Date: 07/04/2022