ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Police say a 23-year-old St. Petersburg man was fatally stabbed early Sunday morning after he forced his way into an occupied apartment in the same complex where he lived..
Officers say Zachery Eggleston entered the apartment, located at 545 77th Ave. N., where a family was sleeping around 1:30 a.m. Police responded to shortly afterwards after receiving the report of a stabbing.
Family members told detectives the intruder, identified as Eggleston, and the man who lives there fought after the home invasion.
During the struggle, the victim stabbed Eggleston.
"For this all to happen, it don't make no sense," said Tyrone Smith, a neighbor who came home to see Eggleston collapsed outside the apartment. "I see a whole bunch of cop cars and an ambulance, so I walked around the corner here and saw the body laying right there plus there was blood everywhere."
Eggleston and the apartment resident, 29-year-old Jonathan Garcia, were both taken to an area hospital for treatment of their injuries. Eggleston later died at the hospital.
"I keep to myself so I don't worry about things like this, it's a shame things like this happen but I don't worry myself about this," Smith said.
Smith says he previously heard Eggleston arguing with other people in the complex, but he mostly avoided talking to him.
"One time he came out here and said something to my wife and I told him 'What do you want?' That was it right there." said Smith.
Both men lived in the same apartment complex, but police say Garcia did not know Eggleston.
No charges have been filed. It is an on-going investigation.
