3 found dead in apparent double murder-suicide near Winter Park

WINTER PARK, Fla. – Three people were found dead late Monday at a home near Winter Park in what deputies say appears to be a double murder-suicide.

A shooting was reported just before 10 p.m. in the 1000 block of Princess Gate Boulevard in the Howell Estates community of unincorporated Winter Park.

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According to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, deputies found three people dead. Officials said two of them appeared to be victims of homicide and the other suffered a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Sheriff’s officials said “an investigation indicates that the subject is a family friend of the victims (who was) staying in the home.”

The sheriff’s office later said that a 17-year-old who was in the house at the time of the shooting crawled out of a window to safety. Deputies said it’s believed the suspect had already shot himself when the teen, who was unharmed, crawled through the window.

No other details, including information about the victims, have been released.

Terri Riley said she was friends with the victims who were killed Monday night.

“They were very sweet people,” Riley said. “Just a big loss. They knew a lot of people, you know.”

Linda Lubitz, who lives nearby, learned about the news when she woke up Tuesday morning.

“I said no good deed goes unpunished, and the reason I said that is because they had taken somebody in out of the goodness of their heart,” Lubitz said.