WEST MELBOURNE. Fla. – Three days after West Melbourne police said a tenant shot two people — killing one of them — who broke in their apartment, the department still has not identified who died, said if the people involved knew each other or answered questions about whether the person who shot the intruders will face charges.
Tenant Carol Steinfeld is waiting anxiously for more answers.
“I don’t like the fact that somebody just broke into somebody else’s house and the homeowner had a gun,” the resident of the Reserves of Melbourne apartment complex said.
Dispatch recordings at 2 a.m. Sunday tell us the intruders may have shot first.
“The homeowner advises he shot back, subjects shooting at him and there is a blood trail leaving the apartment,” a dispatcher reported. “He says one of the people he shot got away.”
Police said that person is still in the hospital.
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Another neighbor said the gunfire woke up her family.
She said they got down on the floor for safety until police arrived.
“This is not a wealthy community, and it doesn’t seem to me somebody would break in to rob somebody of a lot of things,” Steinfeld said. “It just seems very strange to me.”
Anyone with information about what happened is asked to call the West Melbourne Police Department at 321-723-9673, or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477) to remain anonymous.
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