Sheriff’s office: 3 dead, 1 injured in Florida shooting

Associated Press

Friday, Oct. 2, 2015 | 12:08 a.m.

INGLIS, Fla. — A man in north Florida fatally shot two people, including his estranged wife, and critically injured a third before killing himself, authorities said.

Levy County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Scott Tummond said in an interview early Friday morning that the incident happened at a home in Inglis, about 50 miles from Gainesville.

Around 6:10 p.m. Thursday, the sheriff's office began receiving 911 calls reporting shots fired, Tummond said. An EMS crew and law enforcement were dispatched.

Tummond said the EMS crew arrived first and found two men shot in the front yard of the home. One man, 68-year-old Walter S. Terhune of Inglis, was pronounced dead at the scene. The second, Otis G. Bean, who owned the home and whose age wasn't immediately known, was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.

Law enforcement officials surrounded the home, believing the shooter was inside, Tummond said.

Officials saw a man appear in a second-floor window, then disappear from sight, Tummond said. They heard a single gunshot.

Authorities entered the home and found Patricia Tyson, whose age was unknown, dead on the ground floor, Tummond said. They found the gunman, identified as her estranged husband, 57-year-old Walter Tyson, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Tummond said two guns were recovered from the scene.

Police believe the Tysons, of nearby Citrus County, had recently separated. Their relationship with Bean was not immediately clear.

Terhune, who was fatally shot in the yard, is believed to have been a bystander.

Tummond said Terhune, a Vietnam veteran, was across the street when he heard the gunfire, noticed that children were nearby and went to intervene.

"This is a very ... tragic incident for this small community," Tummond said.

The shooting came hours after a gunman opened fire at an Oregon community college, killing at least nine people before dying in a shootout with police.