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Florida yoga studio shooting: gunman who killed two is named Florida yoga studio shooting: gunman who killed two is named
(about 9 hours later)
A gunman has killed two people and wounded five others at a yoga studio in Florida’s capital before killing himself on Friday evening. Members of a yoga class tackled a gunman who killed two people and wounded five at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, preventing him from doing further harm, police said. Authorities believe the gunman killed himself.
The man shot six people and pistol-whipped another after walking into the studio, which is inside a small Tallahassee shopping center, said Tallahassee police chief Michael DeLeo. The suspect then fatally shot himself, DeLeo said. Six people were shot and one pistol-whipped after the man walked into the studio, inside a small shopping center, said Tallahassee police chief Michael DeLeo late on Friday.
Police later identified the gunman as Scott Paul Beierle, 40, and the shooting fatalities as Dr Nancy Van Vessem, 61, and Maura Binkley, 21. Police identified the gunman as Scott Paul Beierle, 40. The two people he killed were Dr Nancy Van Vessem, 61, and Maura Binkley, 21.
Florida State University president John Thrasher said Van Vessem and Binkley had ties to the university. “To lose one of our students and one of our faculty members in this tragic and violent way is just devastating to the Florida State University family. We feel this loss profoundly and we send our deepest sympathies to Maura’s and Nancy’s loved ones while we pray for the recovery of those who were injured,” Thrasher said in a statement. “The fact that we had people fight this attacker to help save other people and prevent him from doing additional harm speaks to the spirit of Tallahassee,” DeLeo said in an early morning update on Saturday.
DeLeo said police were asking for anyone who saw anything unusual around the time of the shooting to contact police. He said the shooter acted alone. Florida State University president John Thrasher said Van Vessem and Binkley had ties to the university.
“We’re all very saddened and shocked by the events that occurred, but it’s important that people understand that there is no immediate threat outside of what has already occurred this evening,” DeLeo said. “To lose one of our students and one of our faculty members in this tragic and violent way is just devastating to the Florida State University family,” Thrasher said in a statement. “We feel this loss profoundly and we send our deepest sympathies to Maura’s and Nancy’s loved ones while we pray for the recovery of those who were injured.”
Capital Health Plan, where Van Vessem worked as chief medical director, called her a “guiding, visionary force”. In a statement it said: “Her dedication, caring, leadership, humanity, and experience made her one of the most respected, inspiring, and accomplished medical professionals in the state and country. Our hearts are filled with sorrow and prayers for her family. We all have been so blessed to have Nancy in our lives.” DeLeo said police were asking for anyone who saw anything unusual around the time of the shooting to contact authorities. He said the gunman acted alone and that no connection between the shooter and the victims or the location had yet been determined. Police would be looking at social media, cell phone records and interviewing friends and neighbors, he said, to try to ascertain a motive.
The city commissioner, Scott Maddox, visited the scene of the shooting. He said on Facebook: “In my public service career I have had to be on some bad scenes. This is the worst. Please pray.” A public records search showed Beierle was charged with misdemeanor battery for incidents in 2012 and 2016, and criminal trespassing in 2014.
Elle Welling said she was leaving a liquor store across the street from the shopping center and saw at least three people loaded into ambulances. Capital Health Plan, where Van Vessem worked as chief medical director, called her a “guiding, visionary force”. In a statement, it said: “Her dedication, caring, leadership, humanity and experience made her one of the most respected, inspiring, and accomplished medical professionals in the state and country. Our hearts are filled with sorrow and prayers for her family. We all have been so blessed to have Nancy in our lives.”
“You don’t think about this in Tallahassee and now you have to,” said Welling, 26, who lives in the neighborhood. The city commissioner, Scott Maddox, visited the scene. He said on Facebook: “In my public service career I have had to be on some bad scenes. This is the worst. Please pray.”
The plaza is home to popular restaurants, a jewelry store, a framing shop, a hair salon and other businesses. A witness, Elle Welling, said she was leaving a liquor store across the street from the shopping center and saw at least three people being lifted into ambulances.
Erskin Wesson, 64, said he was eating dinner with his family at a restaurant located below the yoga studio when they heard the gunshots above them. “You don’t think about this in Tallahassee and now you have to,” said Welling, 26.
“We just heard ‘pow, pow, pow, pow,’” Wesson said. “It sounded like a limb falling on a tin roof and rolling.” The plaza is home to popular restaurants, a jewelry store, a framing shop, a hair salon and other businesses. Erskin Wesson, 64, said he was eating dinner with his family at a restaurant below the yoga studio when they heard the gunshots above them.
The restaurant’s owner came by a short time later, asking if anyone was a doctor, Wesson said. His stepdaughter is an emergency room nurse and helped paramedics for about an hour, he said. “We just heard ‘pow, pow, pow, pow’,” he said. “It sounded like a limb falling on a tin roof and rolling.”
Tallahassee’s mayor, Andrew Gillum, who is the Democratic nominee for governor, tweeted that he was breaking off the campaign trail to return to Tallahassee. He earlier appeared at a campaign event with Barack Obama. The restaurant owner came by a short time later, asking if anyone was a doctor, Wesson said. His stepdaughter is an emergency room nurse and helped paramedics for about an hour, he said.
“I’m deeply appreciative of law enforcement’s quick response to the shooting at the yoga facility in Tallahassee today. No act of gun violence is acceptable. I’m in close communication with law enforcement officials and will be returning to Tallahassee tonight,” Gillum tweeted. Tallahassee’s mayor, Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for governor, tweeted that he was breaking off the campaign trail to return to Tallahassee. He had earlier appeared at a campaign event with Barack Obama.
The Republican governor, Rick Scott, who is challenging the Democratic senator Bill Nelson for his seat, called DeLeo and the head of the Florida department of law enforcement to get details of the shooting. “I’m deeply appreciative of law enforcement’s quick response to the shooting at the yoga facility in Tallahassee today,” he wrote. “No act of gun violence is acceptable. I’m in close communication with law enforcement officials and will be returning to Tallahassee tonight.”
“I will remain in constant communication with law enforcement. We have offered state assistance,” Scott tweeted. Republican governor Rick Scott, who is challenging the Democrat Bill Nelson for his US Senate seat, called DeLeo and the head of the Florida department of law enforcement.
Tallahassee’s crime and murder rate has been an issue in the governor’s race, with Gillum’s opponent, the Republican former US representative Ron DeSantis, calling the capital Florida’s most crime-ridden city, a claim that is incorrect. “I will remain in constant communication with law enforcement,” Scott tweeted. “We have offered state assistance.”
Tallahassee’s crime and murder rate has been an issue in the gubernatorial race, with Gillum’s opponent, Republican former US representative Ron DeSantis, calling the capital Florida’s most crime-ridden city – a claim that is incorrect.
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