LAKE MARY, Fla.,None — There were two crime scenes and three dead bodies after a triple shooting that shattered the quiet of a Lake Mary neighborhood Thursday morning. Police say a gunman shot two people and then turned the gun on himself.
Most of the violence happened right in the middle of the street near Holbrook Circle and Sundance Drive. ( see map ).
911 CALLS: Neighbors Call For Help AT THE SCENE: Images From Shooting
WFTV learned Thursday afternoon, that 54-year-old Dale Leigh Marshall-Burkhart was shot by her ex-husband, 61-year-old John Marshall. Dale Leigh Marshall-Burkhart's current husband, 59-year-old Orval Dale Burkhart, was also shot and killed by Marshall.
Investigators said Dale Marshall-Burkhart left her home around 7:30am with one of her kids. Her current husband, Orval Burkhart, stayed inside the house. Marshall, investigators said, showed up at the house and began firing at it. Orval Burkhart then ran out of the home and down the street to get away, but was shot to death by Marshall.
At that point, for an unknown reason, Dale Marshall-Burkhart returned to the home and Marshall shot her while she was in her SUV. Marshall then shot himself.
"Oh my God, there is three people dead now," a 911 caller told the dispatcher. "It looks like he shot the driver, he shot himself, and he shot the guy on the sidewalk (listen to call) ."
The three dead bodies were found at the Lakewood at the Crossing subdivision near Lake Mary High School.
"The guy that's lying on the ground is the one who shot everybody," the caller said.
Three yellow blankets covered three dead bodies in the middle of the upscale Lake Mary neighborhood that turned into a terrifying murder scene.
"You can see by the sheer fact that we had two scenes that this shooter was absolutely motivated to see this through," said Lt. James Clark, Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators describe it as a domestic incident, but said there were no children in the home at the time. All the witnesses to the horrifying scene were neighbors who just happened upon it.
"Fortunately, and it's really hard to say that, in this situation no one else was hurt. At 7:30 in the morning, in this kind of residential area, that's obviously a concern," Clark said.
The scene was something the neighborhood will never forget. Residents were horrified when they heard the news and said they couldn't be more shocked that something like that would happen in their neighborhood.
One neighbor said she did her research before she moved there from Denver, Colorado. The low crime rate and excellent schools are what attracted her.
"That's why I moved here. Did a lot of research and they said Lake Mary is the place go," eyewitness Sharon Cooksy said.
It didn't take long for news about the double murder-suicide to get around Lake Mary. It is one of Seminole County's most desired places to live, with one of the lowest crime rates in the state.
Angel Lausell's body shook nervously as WFTV interviewed him.
"Coming from Queens, seeing something like this in New York, right away you get a shocked and that's why I came down here in '90," Lausell said.
Many residents were shocked as they watched Seminole County sheriff's deputies and crime scene investigators hover over three dead bodies on the main road that leads into the subdivision off Lake Park Drive.
Residents called family members and neighbors because everyone was desperate to know why it happened in their neighborhood.
"I thought maybe some of the middle school kids got into a fight, you know. Maybe somebody pulled out a knife and the cops came," Cooksy said.
WFTV found that's the kind of petty crime they're used to in the close-knit community. Crime stats turned into the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show there were just over 300 crimes committed in the city of 14,000 last year. Most were cases of burglary and theft and crime was down nearly six percent from 2008.
WFTV
