On September 27, 2023, 52-year-old auto shop owner Jodie Stout was fatally shot at Stout’s Auto, 1801 South Belcher Road in Largo, Florida. Multiple 911 calls around 11:26 a.m. reported an active shooter. The shooter was identified as 78-year-old former customer Eugene Frank Becker, who had visited the shop in 2021 and been unhappy about feeling overcharged; Becker later suffered a car crash in Pinellas Park, was hospitalized, lost his car, and was described as feeling somewhat depressed and extremely frustrated.

Becker arrived in a rental car, asked for Stout at the front desk, and after confirming he was speaking with the owner pulled out a gun and fired. Stout retrieved his own firearm and returned fire; both men were struck and taken to hospitals, where they were pronounced dead. Stout was born January 4, 1971, in Chanute, Kansas, trained as an ASE Master Technician, opened shops in Kansas and later Stout’s Auto in Clearwater in 2009 and Largo in 2012, and is remembered by family as honest and kind.