From staff reports

A man who reportedly shot his girlfriend to death in a Brownsville thrift shop Wednesday morning is in custody, according to the Pensacola Police Department.

Dearin J. Leggs, 28, allegedly shot his live-in girlfriend, Angela M. Covington, 37, shortly before noon in her business, Ann Marie's All That and More, in the 2400 block of Cervantes Street, a PPD news release said. Leggs reportedly turned himself in at the Escambia County Sheriff's Office about an hour later.

The shooting was reported by a customer who was in the store at the time of the shooting. The murder is the first in Pensacola city limits this year

A witness told police that the shooter was at the shop earlier that morning and engaged in a verbal altercation with the victim. Simmons said he later returned with a handgun and shot the woman multiple times. She was declared dead at the scene.

Janice Coleman works at the Shop and Go convenience store, located on the same block as the thrift store. She said she did not hear shots fired.

Hani Shoman, who owns the store, said he was surprised by the shooting. He felt that, overall, crime had decreased in the neighborhood during the past year, though he noted that most of those past problems had been drug-related.

He said his store had been robbed three times in one six-month period during the past two years, but added that things seemed to have improved during the prior 10 months, a fact he attributed to more aggressive law enforcement.

"It was bad before," he said. "It was really, really bad. But now it is safe."

Margaret Saunders, who manages the Pensacola Motor Lodge, one block to the east, disagreed. She was working this morning when the shooting occurred and heard the gunshots. She said two shootings and several robberies had occurred in recent months within a five block radius of the motel.

"God bless her heart," Saunders said while standing under the awning by the motel's small office.

"This is terrible," she added, cradling her head in her hand. "What is wrong with people?"