3 dead, 1 injured in shooting in Inglis
INGLIS (FOX 13) - One person continues to fight for his life Friday morning, but three others are dead following a tragic shooting in north Florida Thursday evening.
Deputies said it happened just after 6 p.m. at a home on Highway 40 West in Levy County (just north of Citrus County) across the street from the Inglis Town Hall.
The shooter has been identified as 57-year-old Walter A. Tyson. His victims include his wife, Patricia A. Tyson; a man said to be her boyfriend, Otis Ray Bean; and a Good Samaritan who was just trying to help, 68-year-old Walter Scott Terhune.
Emergency dispatch routed all available first responders to the Town Hall area at 6:10 p.m. after receiving several 911 calls about an active shooter in the area.
An ambulance crew was the first to arrive, and reportedly found two men, Bean and Terhune, on the ground.
Officials said Bean, who was shot first, was still alive. Terhune, however, had already passed away.
Witnesses later told officials that Terhune was withdrawing money from the ATM at the bank across the street when Bean was shot. They said Terhune saw a group of kids playing behind Town Hall and, being the decorated war veteran he was, he ran across the street to confront Tyson and get the children to safety.
That’s when officials say Tyson turned the gun on him, and killed him.
The ambulance rushed Bean to the hospital as a second crew of first responders- a U.S. Marshal's task force made up of Citrus County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Levy County Sheriff’s Office deputies and FDLE officials- arrived and surrounded the home.
The task force reportedly spotted Walter Tyson looking out an upstairs window of the home. They said they were going to try to talk to him, but then they heard a gunshot and the thud of his body hitting the ground.
As other deputies arrived, the task force and a SWAT team entered the home and found Patricia Tyson on the first floor of the home with a gunshot wound to the head. Upstairs, they found Walter Tyson’s body.
Bean, the only victim to survive the incident, is said to be fighting for his life at a hospital in the area.
The investigation into the shooting continues this morning.
FOX 13 will continue with updates as they become available.