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Gunshot follows claim of love, girl says
By MARY SPICUZZA, Times Staff Writer HOLIDAY -- She said he told her he was sorry, and that he loved her. Then Matthew John Mortti shot her, a 17-year-old girl told Pasco County sheriff's detectives on Thursday. Ashley Summer Grove said Mortti, 19, shot her in the abdomen early Thursday morning as she tried to run out of his bedroom, a sheriff's report said. Mortti was arrested Thursday afternoon, hours after he told deputies the .22-caliber pistol he was showing his girlfriend accidentally went off, the report said. He faces charges of attempted murder and shooting within an occupied dwelling. Deputies were called to Mortti's home, at 1949 Dartmouth Drive, after he called 911 to report the shooting. They arrived just before 1 a.m. and found Grove lying face-down on the floor of Mortti's bedroom, the report said. Grove was flown to a local hospital, where she was in intensive care Thursday evening, sheriff's spokesman Jon Powers said. Early Thursday morning, Mortti told deputies the shooting was an accident, the report said. "I was showing her how the bullets went in and she tried to grab it from me and it went off," Mortti told deputies, the report said. Mortti said after she was shot, he threw the pistol into a sewer drain and called 911, the report said. Several hours later, Mortti said he and Grove were fighting when she tried to leave the home, but he blocked her, the report said. He then said he grabbed his pistol, but shot her in the abdomen only after she pushed him into his weight set, the report said. But Grove told deputies that Mortti became angry, destroyed her cellular phone, pointed a gun at her head and said, "I am sorry. I love you." Grove said that when she pushed Mortti and tried to escape, he shot her, the report said. Mortti was taken to Land O'Lakes jail, where he was being held Thursday evening in lieu of $120,000 bail. -- Mary Spicuzza can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6232 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6232. His e-mail address is spicuzza@sptimes.com.
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
