Father shot & killed 5-year-old son, himself at Lutz home: 'Horrible scene'

HCSO news conference on murder-suicide in Lutz

Deputies are investigating a murder-suicide after a 44-year-old father shot and killed his 5-year-old son, then himself, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

LUTZ, Fla. - Deputies are investigating a murder-suicide after a 44-year-old father shot and killed his 5-year-old son, then himself, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

HCSO said deputies were called to a home on the 17600 block of Cranbrook Drive in Lutz at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning after the man's estranged wife, who is the child's mother, called 911.

She told deputies she was there to pick up her son, but no one answered the door.

HCSO says they conducted a wellness check at 7:53 a.m. but left the house after "finding no immediate signs of concerns."

Deputies say they went back to the house at 10:05 a.m. after the mother called 911 a second time, and the bodies were both found dead from gunshot wounds.

Two people were found dead inside a home on Friday in an apparent murder-suicide, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. (Photo courtesy of HCSO.)

"This is a horrible, horrible scene," Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said at a news conference Friday afternoon. "Not only for the mother and the family of that child that has to go through the holiday season knowing that they're missing this family member. It's also a horrible scene for the deputies that responded here today."

Pamela Oliva, a Cranebrook Drive neighbor of the dead father and son, described the murder-suicide as "very shocking" and "not anything would have ever expected" either from her neighborhood or the man.

Oliva continued, saying that despite not being ‘friends’ with the man, they had developed a friendly, neighborly relationship over the 18 years they had lived down the block from each other.

Pamela Oliva, a Cranebrook Drive neighbor of the dead father and son, described the man behind the murder-suicide.

"It's not a friendship to where we hung out or anything, but he always helped people if they needed help," Oliva said. "You know, (he was) always the neighbor that waves to you, stops, and says hi when he sees you."

HCSO has not released the names of the father and son.

They say the investigation into the murder-suicide is ongoing, and they are working to "uncover the circumstances surrounding this tragedy."

If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 (SAFE).

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