BY EILEEN ZAFFIRO-KEAN AND DINAH VOYLES PULVER, STAFF WRITER
May 10, 2011 12:05 AM Posted in: West Volusia Tagged: murder-suicide
Investigators comb through the scene in DeBary where they say a husband killed his wife before he turned the gun on himself. He later died at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. (N-J | Dinah Voyles Pulver)
DEBARY -- A quiet DeBary neighborhood erupted in gunfire Monday afternoon when a man shot and killed his wife on his mother's front lawn.
Volusia County sheriff's officials said Louis Vasquez, 27, shot his wife, Linda Latoya Vasquez, 22, with a handgun and then shot himself in front of his mother's home at 39 Catalina Drive. He died a short time later after being taken by sheriff's helicopter to Halifax Health Medical Center.
The couple lived in Orlando, but neighbors said Vasquez grew up in DeBary and attended Deltona High School.
Deputies said a 9-1-1 call about 5:35 p.m. Monday reported two people had been shot in the front yard of 39 Catalina Drive.
When deputies and paramedics responded, they said they found the dead on the ground, and her husband nearby, injured but still alive.
Louis Vasquez was transported by a sheriff's helicopter to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. He died after arriving.
The owner of the home where the shooting occurred is Esther E. Holt, according to Volusia County property appraiser records. Holt could not be reached for comment Monday night.
The murder weapon, a handgun, was found at the scene, deputies said.
Several neighbors said they heard a single gunshot, then three shots in rapid succession, then a final shot. Some neighbors said they saw the man and woman lying in the front yard.
A woman who lives across the street from where the shooting happened said she saw the final moments of the fatal drama. Carolyn Carter said she saw the woman holding a phone, and the man screaming at her to hang up.
"He raised the gun and fired at her," Carter said. "Then I saw him turn the gun on himself. ... I'm pretty shaken up."
Others who live in the neighborhood, which they say is normally very quiet and safe, heard and saw things they didn't fully understand in the moments after the shooting.
"We were home, and my husband was watering the flowers in our backyard," said Julia Signore, who lives near where the murder took place. "My husband heard the gunshots and he thought it had something to do with dogs he saw running through the yards. Then a helicopter landed almost in our backyard and they took one body away."
Helen Charland also lives across from the site of the shooting and was rattled by what unfolded on her street. One moment there was calm, the next two people were lying in front of her neighbor's house and a cavalry of law enforcement and emergency medical vehicles moved in.
"I just about fainted. I was really getting scared," said Charland, who thought the woman who lives at 39 Catalina Drive had been shot. "I said 'I can't believe someone would hurt her.' I felt a loss right away. The police told me to go back in the house. I didn't know what to expect. It was like a raid."
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