NBC

Central Florida Deputy Kills Wife, Himself Inside Home With 4 Children Inside

Kirk Keithley, a deputy with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound

What to Know

  • The shooting happened at a subdivision in the Pasco County city of Land O’Lakes, located just north of Tampa.
  • Kirk Keithley, a deputy with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
  • The 39-year-old is accused of killing his wife, 33-year-old Samantha Keithley, in an apparent murder-suicide.

A Florida sheriff's deputy fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself while their four children were inside the home, NBC affiliate WFLA-TV reported.

The shooting happened at a subdivision in the Pasco County city of Land O’Lakes, located just north of Tampa.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said deputies responded to the home around midnight Monday after a teen called 911 to report a shooting. 

Once inside, deputies found the body of 33-year-old Samantha Keithley on a couch downstairs. Kirk Keithley, 39, a deputy with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, was found dead upstairs with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Pasco County Sheriff's office said.

According to WFLA, deputies said the couple had two children together and one child each from a previous relationship. The children were inside the home at the time of the shooting, but Nocco said they did not appear to witness it.

The children's ages were not immediately clear, but Nocco said the oldest child is 14 years old. 

Nocco said the deputy did not use his service weapon in the shooting and added that there had been no previous 911 calls to the home.

"Domestic violence is a horrendous act that goes on in every community," Nocco said at an early morning news conference. "The moment that any individual goes from protecting people to harming people loses the right, no matter what agency they're with, to call themselves a law enforcement officer."

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HELP: The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or 800-787-3224 (TTY) provides people in distress, or those around them, with 24-hour support.

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