Editor’s note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or suicidepreventionlifeline.org, or call the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay by dialing 2-1-1.
Two men are dead after an apparent murder-suicide in Hernando County early Thursday morning.
Hernando County Sheriff’s officials said they were called to a home on Fort Dade Avenue in Brooksville just after midnight Thursday, where they found two men in the road. Both men were dead from apparent gunshot wounds. A gun also was found on the road, deputies said.
Deputies said the men were related. The men often disagreed with one another, but in the past would reconcile. Family members told deputies that the disagreements had become more frequent recently. Other family members heard the two arguing early Thursday morning, but were not alarmed because of the history of the men quarreling, deputies said.
Minutes later, family members heard gunshots, went outside to check on them and found them in the road, deputies said.
“Preliminary investigation reveals the argument escalated to the point of the suspect producing a handgun and shooting the victim,” deputies said in a news release. “The suspect then utilized the same handgun to take his own life.”
An investigation is under way.
The sheriff’s office did not release the names of the men because of the agency’s interpretation of Marsy’s Law, an amendment to the Florida Constitution.