Deputies: Man killed woman, self

Authorities say little about the slayings in a Port Richey home. Another person in the house was unharmed.

By MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 30, 2002

PORT RICHEY -- A man shot and killed a woman Monday night before turning the gun on himself, Pasco County sheriff's deputies said.

Deputies were called to 6918 Mesa Verde St. after someone in the house called 911 to report that a man was holding a knife to a woman's throat. A caller later told a 911 operator that the man had shot the woman, then himself.

Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll would not release much information about the killings Monday night because the family members of the man and woman had not yet been notified. Doll said deputies were called to the house at 7:30 p.m., but by the time they arrived, the shooting was over.

Doll said that there was another woman in the house during the shooting, who was unharmed. It was unclear Monday night if she was the one who had called 911 to report the incident.

Doll would not say what the relationship was between the man and woman who were killed.

Neighbors said it appeared that the man might have been driving through the neighborhood looking for the woman before the shootings. Several said they saw him slowly cruising Mesa Verde Street on Monday evening, looking at houses.

Rocco Dorazio, 60, lives near the home where the shooting occurred. He said he returned home from Green Key Beach an hour before the shooting and was parked his car in his driveway. When he got out of the vehicle, he said, the man drove up to him in an older model white GMC van and asked him if a woman named Rhonda or someone with a white Chrysler PT Cruiser lived in the house next to the one where the shooting later took place.

"I said "No, I don't know these people,' " Dorazio said he told the man.

Dorazio said the man thanked him and drove west on Mesa Verde. The shooting later occurred at a house east of Dorazio's home.

A van matching the description Dorazio gave was parked in the driveway late Monday night as Doll said were investigating the shooting Monday night.

-- Matthew Waite can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is waite@sptimes.com.

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