Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Two young men found shot to death on road

The Trilby slayings, the second double homicide of the month, bring Pasco County's homicide count to 16 this year.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published July 29, 2006

TRILBY - A hilly, verdant corner of northeastern Pasco became the scene of gruesome slayings early Friday when two young men were found shot to death in the dusty sand of Harris Hill Road.

The men lay face down, within arm's reach of each other, blood pooled around their heads. They became the 15th and 16th homicides in the county this year, bringing the Pasco homicide count for July to six.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office said someone called 911 about 6 a.m. after finding the bodies. The first paramedics on the scene thought the men might be juveniles. But sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll had not released the victims' identities by Friday evening and did not disclose their ages.

He would not say whether the men were killed in the spot where they were found.

A man who lives next to the scene said there was little doubt.

"Whatever they were doing, they did it right here," said Wayne Woodward, 59, who lives at the corner of Harris Hill and Trilby roads with his wife, Toni.

Woodward said his wife was awakened by several gunshots shortly after 5 a.m. When she went outside, she heard and saw a car head east on Trilby Road

Someone in a passing car had already called 911, Woodward said.

Walking to the edge of their yard, the couple saw the bodies.

The two men were dressed like teenagers - shorts low around their waists, oversized T-shirts, according to images shot from a WTVT-Ch. 13 news helicopter. Both wore sneakers.

Later Friday morning, sheriff's cruisers blocked both ends of Harris Hill Road as investigators milled about. Helicopters hovered overhead, breaking the calm of the hot, misty morning.

Throughout the day, residents reacted to the latest incidents in what is becoming a trend of violence in Pasco.

"I've never seen it this bad - and how quick," said Margarita Romo, an activist in the Tommytown section of Dade City.

Of the six people who have been killed in Pasco in July, four were on the east side of the county.

The death toll of 16 so far this year compares with 15 in 2005 and 15 in 2004.

The Trilby slayings were also the second double homicide of the year. On July 10, two men were fatally shot in a neighborhood street in Hudson, the windshield of their black sport utility vehicle riddled with bullet holes.

Times staff writer Mallory Simon contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 28, 2006, 22:46:55]