A 64-year-old Riverview man is dead after he shot his wife and step-daughter, both of whom were terminally ill, then turned the gun on himself.
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, a visibly shaken Sheriff Chad Chronister says Thomas Schultz, 64, called 9-1-1 this morning to say "we are in an impossible situation with no way out." As the dispatcher tried to talk to Schultz, he said "I have to go, I'm fixin' to shoot myself." When deputies arrived, they found Schultz's body in the rear of the house, with a gun by his side, and the body of his wife in one of the bedrooms. "They walk over to the next bedroom, and find Schultz's stepdaughter, who's in her 50's, and she was laying in a hospital bed with a feeding tube hooked to her," Chronister said. "And she was shot while she was in the hospital bed."
A visibly shaken Chronister says family members have told investigators that both Schultz's wife and step-daughter were suffering from a terminal illness. He said there's "always hope and always help," and said the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is always available by dialing 2-1-1.
And to compound the tragedy, Chronister said the 9-1-1 dispatcher who took the call this morning recently lost a family member to suicide.
photo: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office