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Pasco sheriff: Murder-suicide sheds light on domestic violence during holiday season
Kellie Cowan reports
If you or a loved one is feeling distressed, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The crisis center provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to civilians and veterans. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (tel:18002738255). Or text HOME to 741-741 (Crisis Text Line).
Click here to learn more about the warning signs and risk factors of suicide. Call 1-800-273-TALK for free and confidential emotional support.
LAND O'LAKES, Fla. - Pasco County detectives say a father fired a gun at his family before taking his own life, leaving a 5-year-old girl without her parents.
According to the sheriff’s office, a babysitter witnessed the shooting. It occurred along Marchmont Boulevard, inside a gated community in Land O'Lakes around 8:15 p.m. Thursday.
Sheriff Chris Nocco said the husband, who had been placed on a restraining order, ambushed his wife and 5-year-old daughter outside their home. Officials said, according to the babysitter, the mother had just returned home. As she was walking to her car, the father ran up to the mother and child and began shooting at both.
The mother was shot and left in the yard. The father and girl proceeded into the home. The babysitter immediately called 911, the sheriff said.
According to the agency, deputies arrived to find the woman already deceased. The child came out of the house when she saw the deputies. She was shot in the arm and told deputies her father had gone into a bedroom, and she heard a loud bang.
Deputies found the man dead inside the home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Sheriff Nocco said the murder-suicide is shocking, but unfortunately, they consistently see mental health crises spike at this time of year,
"So far today," he said Tuesday night, "we had eight suicide calls – two ending in deaths. I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now and what she will be going through over the next couple days."
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Sheriff Nocco said the little girl is now in the hospital recovering. She’s expected to be OK, but she’ll have a tough road ahead of her after Tuesday's tragedy. He said the mother had taken out a restraining order against her husband after he was charged with domestic battery just four months ago.
A Pasco deputy is seen entering the Marchmont community after as the agency investigates a murder-suicide, they said.
"This man, he killed his wife. He shot his daughter. He left his daughter in a world without any parents," the sheriff stated. "This is the horrible thing we have to live with. And for everybody in our community, I ask you this, you know, if you're wondering what to buy people for the holiday season, give money to Sunrise, a domestic violence shelter. Give money to a group, a mental health group that can help people out because these are tragedies that affect people."
If you or a loved one is feeling distressed, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The crisis center provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to civilians and veterans. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (tel:18002738255). Or text HOME to 741-741 (Crisis Text Line).
Click here to learn more about the warning signs and risk factors of suicide. Call 1-800-273-TALK for free and confidential emotional support.