Father shot 5-year-old son himself in Lutz’s house: “Terrible scene”

LUTZ, Florida – Officers are investigating a murder-suicide after a 44-year-old father shot his five-year-old son and then himself Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

HCSO said officers were called to a home in 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 officers she was there to pick up her son, but no one answered the door.

HCSO said they conducted a wellness check at 7:53 a.m. but left the home after “no immediate signs of concern were noted.”

Officers said they returned to the home at 10:05 a.m. after the mother called 911 a second time. The father and son were found dead from gunshot wounds.

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

“This is a terrible, terrible scene,” Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said at a news conference Friday afternoon. “Not just for this child’s mother and family who have to go through the holiday season knowing they miss this family member. It is also a horrific scene for the deputies who responded here today.”

Pamela Oliva, a neighbor of the late father and son on Cranebrook Drive, described the murder-suicide as “very shocking” and “neither one would have expected anything from her neighborhood nor from the man.”

Oliva continued, saying that although they were not “friends” with the man, they had developed a friendly, neighborly relationship over the 18 years they lived a block apart.

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

“It’s not a friendship with the place we hung out at or anything, but he always helped people when they needed help,” Oliva said. “You know, he was always the neighbor who would wave at you, stop and say hello when he saw you.”

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

They say the murder-suicide investigation is ongoing and they are working to “unravel the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.”

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

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