October 13, 200619 yr CNN.com Adults, children found dead in gruesome highway shootings POSTED: 4:51 p.m. EDT, October 13, 2006 PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (CNN) -- Four people, a man and a woman who was clutching two children, were found shot to death Friday on an isolated stretch of Florida's Turnpike, police said. No vehicle was seen near their bodies when a passing motorist found them lying on the ground near one of the state's busiest interchanges. "This is definitely not a murder-suicide," said St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken J. Mascara. "This is a murder that we're pulling out all stops to find out who committed this crime." Mascara said the four victims appeared to be Hispanic and were shot multiple times while kneeling or lying on the ground. It's unknown if they were a family, he said. Woman appeared to be protecting children "The woman in a defensive posture, had both of the children surrounded, underneath her arms, in an effort that we can assume was to protect them from the gunfire," Mascara said. Police said officials assume the four were in a vehicle that pulled off the highway and that someone inside the vehicle shot all four victims multiple times before driving away, according to The Associated Press. Police were excavating the ground under the victims in a search for bullets that would help them determine whether more than one gun was used, Mascara said. Investigators working the case were emotionally affected by the slayings, he said. "Everybody that went and viewed the bodies described it as one of the most gruesome scenes that they had been to," he said. Residents awoke to 'pop-pop' sound Residents living at a golf club near the scene of the shooting reported hearing gunshots between 1 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., Mascara said. Janis Rich, a 67-year-old retired bookkeeper, told AP that she her husband were asleep in their golf club home, a quarter-mile from the scene, when they awoke to a loud "pop-pop-pop-pop" sound from the direction of the turnpike just before 2:30 a.m. Rich said the couple saw no traffic or anything else in the darkness. "We were trying to hear anyone speaking, anyone crying, but it was total quiet," she told AP. Highway Patrol troopers got a call shortly before 8 a.m. after someone spotted the bodies of the man, woman, boy and girl off the southbound shoulder of the highway in Port St. Lucie, the sheriff's office told AP. No vehicle was found near the bodies, Mascara said. Cameras posted along the turnpike were not recording at the time, Mascara said. A blue tent was set up over the bodies, and white material covered them until they were released to the medical examiner. Busy interchange The bodies were found near the Florida Turnpike's Fort Pierce exit, around mile marker 149, and near its intersection with I-95, a very busy thoroughfare, he said. Florida's Turnpike is the main toll road connecting the Miami area with cities along the Atlantic Coast to Fort Pierce and then inland to Orlando and Interstate 75. None of the victims were being identified by name, Mascara said during an afternoon news conference. The woman, 25, was carrying a Florida ID, he said, and the children are believed to be between 4 and 6 years old. The man, 29, was found lying near the other victims. Autopsies on the four will not be conducted until at least Saturday, said Merv Waldren, spokesman for the St. Lucie County Medical Examiner. He asked that anyone with information that might be connected to the slayings call the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office at 772-462-3230. I sure hope they capture the person(s) responsible for this despicable act.
October 13, 200619 yr I hope my car doesn't break down on my way up there tonight... Which is exactly why you need to be prepared, and unfortunately this family of four was not. How can any man sit there and allow his wife and children to be executed, and be powerless and unable to fight back? It's inconceivable why more people do not exercise their 2A rights. In the eyes of the law here in Florida your vehicle is nothing more than an extension of your home. You don't even need a CWL to keep a firearm in your car, you just can't have the weapon on your person, but it can be in your glovebox, center console, etc. And on another note, I hope the scumbag who did this ends up like that guy who killed a cop and ended up with 68 holes in his body the next day.
October 13, 200619 yr I hope my car doesn't break down on my way up there tonight... Which is exactly why you need to be prepared, and unfortunately this family of four was not. How can any man sit there and allow his wife and children to be executed, and be powerless and unable to fight back? It's inconceivable why more people do not exercise their 2A rights. In the eyes of the law here in Florida your vehicle is nothing more than an extension of your home. You don't even need a CWL to keep a firearm in your car, you just can't have the weapon on your person, but it can be in your glovebox, center console, etc. And on another note, I hope the scumbag who did this ends up like that guy who killed a cop and ended up with 68 holes in his body the next day. In all fairness, you can't say if the guy that got killed owned a gun or not. Maybe they were kidnapped and driven out there? There's so many possible things that could have happened its too early to speculate.
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