By TONY HOLT | Hernando Today
Published: January 23, 2010
Updated: 07:05 pm
BROOKSVILLE - An elderly man fatally shot his wife at a rehabilitation clinic Saturday afternoon and walked out the front entrance and turned the gun on himself, deputies said.
Employees and patients at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Spring Hill were told there was a shooting and the facility was put on lockdown, said Lt. Jim Powers, a spokesman with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
George Larsson, 85, entered the facility shortly before 12:45 p.m. and shot Dorothy Larsson, 85, in her room, deputies said.
When deputies arrived minutes later, they discovered George Larsson's blood-soaked body slumped against the outside wall a few feet near the front entrance.
"It was not a random shooting," said Powers. "It was isolated."
Bystanders at the scene said Larsson had been a regular visitor for at least a few weeks. His wife suffered from Alzheimer's, they said.
"I do know he had been in and out and he was known to visit her," Powers said.
He would not confirm her medical condition and said the motive was still not yet clear.
The couple's family members live out of state and were notified of the shootings Saturday afternoon, he said.
A few dozen vehicles pulled out of the parking lot more than an hour later. Employees were questioned before they were allowed to leave.
"We heard a pop and it sounded like a balloon," said one man as he was pulling out of the parking lot shortly before 2 p.m. He said he was in the cafeteria when the shootings took place.
No alarms went off inside the building. Employees told the patients and moved them to another wing, witnesses said.
Jonathan Lavigne and Sherrie Cannon were riding by the clinic at 12440 Cortez Blvd. when they saw the crime scene tape and deputy cruisers. They pulled into parking lot next door and talked to some of the HealthSouth employees.
Lavigne said his wife had applied for a job at HealthSouth earlier that week.
"We're all concerned something like this could happen here," Cannon said.
Several employees cried and consoled each other as deputies expanded the crime scene and prohibited people from leaving or exiting.
Visitors arriving at the building were turned away at the entrance by deputies. They were told they could not return for a few more hours.
Saturday's fatal shooting was the third such incident reported in in Hernando County during the past 13 days.
Sarah Blackburn, 40, was killed Jan. 10 by her husband, Dr. Robert Blackburn, at their Lake in the Woods home in Spring Hill. Dr. Blackburn killed himself minutes before deputies arrived, according to reports.
Two women – Kathryn Donovan, 61, and Deborah Buckley Tillotson, 59 – were fatally shot at a house off Wilhelm Road four days later. Two others were injured in the shooting, including a pregnant teen who later lost her unborn child, according to the sheriff's office.
The suspected gunman in the attack, 55-year-old John Kalisz, of Spring Hill, drove to Cross City later that afternoon and shot and killed Capt. Chad Reed of the Dixie County Sheriff's Office during a stand-off, authorities said.
Kalisz was shot multiple times and remains hospitalized at Shands Hospital in Gainesville.
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