Investigators in Florida say a double homicide discovered during a well-being check was linked to a shooting rampage hours later in a gated community on the other side of the state, which left five more people dead including the suspected shooter.
The suspect had a romantic relationship with one of the Fort Lauderdale victims, who was connected to the victims in the second shooting in Sarasota, but Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office detectives released few other details.
“The suspect’s motivation for targeting the Sarasota victims is unknown,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Wednesday.
Fort Lauderdale is more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) away from Sarasota, on the opposite side of Florida’s main peninsula.
Fort Lauderdale police officers received a call Tuesday for a well-being check and found two people dead inside a home, Detective Kerri Hagerty said in an email Wednesday.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that this is an isolated incident. Detectives do not believe there is any threat to the local public,” Hagerty said.
According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were directed to a home in a gated community in the city by a 911 call. They found a wounded man in the front yard who died a short time later. Inside the house, deputies found two men and two women, all dead, including the suspect.
Sarasota County detectives were contacted by detectives in Fort Lauderdale who said they believed the cases were linked and provided information about the suspect’s vehicle, which was found in the Sarasota neighborhood.
Video footage gathered from neighbors and the HOA showed the suspect’s vehicle entering the Sarasota neighborhood followed by the sound of gunfire a short time later. More than a half hour later, the man who was found wounded in the front yard is seen on video driving into the neighborhood, approaching the front door of the house and then being shot, the sheriff’s office said.
No other people were seen approaching the home until deputies arrived, according to the sheriff’s office.
