Marine
01-03-2003, 5:36am
PLANT CITY -- When Hillsborough Deputy Dawn Reisinger stepped into a bedroom at an assisted living home Wednesday, authorities said, she found blood splattered on the walls and a 68-year-old man coming at her with a 31/2-foot lead pipe.
The deputy said she shot the man, Carl D. Yates, after he refused to throw down the pipe. But it wasn't until he was handcuffed and bleeding that she made another discovery:
The body of Yates' roommate, 70-year-old Elliot Leon, was hidden beneath bloody sheets on a bed. It appeared Leon died of blunt-force trauma to the head, but an autopsy will confirm the cause of death.
"They were some pretty brutal injuries," said Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder, calling the incident "bizarre."
Yates was in stable condition Wednesday night at Lakeland Regional Medical Center with wounds from two of Reisinger's bullets. He had not been charged with Leon's slaying.
Just after 5 a.m. an employee at Sharick's Deck Retirement Ranch reported a homicide at the facility, at 4506 Bruton Road. An employee led Reisinger to Yates' room, suggesting he had been involved in a killing.
Reisinger entered to find Yates lying on his bed, with blood splattered on the walls and on a second bed nearby. He rose from the bed and approached her with the pipe, ignoring repeated commands to throw the weapon down, authorities said. She fired twice, hitting him both times. Yates had been living at the assisted living facility since August.
Authorities would not comment on where Yates got the pipe.
Under the sheets of the second bed, Reisinger found Leon's body. Leon had lived at the home for about five years.
Yates will be charged with two counts of aggravated assault, in connection with threatening a 54-year-old woman who works at the ALF and a 63-year-old man who lives there, and with aggravated assault on an officer for threatening the deputy, officials said.
The deputy has been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. Reisinger, 30, is a 14-month employee of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and formerly worked for the Pasco Sheriff's Office. Her personnel records were not available Wednesday.
Nicolas Ciccarello, the owner of the ALF, declined to comment for this story.
The ALF lies deep in rural northeast Hillsborough, near Plant City, down twisting roads and past country churches, feed stores and a stand selling homemade cane syrup.
The beige and green house has a well-kept exterior and sits behind a white picket fence and an American flag on a pole.
On Wednesday, as several residents, who appeared to be mentally disabled, milled about the grounds in the sun, Hillsborough deputies scoured the building for clues. A medical examiner's van didn't leave until 3:20 p.m.
At least one neighbor across the street on Bruton Road said he assumed the ALF residents were harmless -- until now.
"The men always wander around the neighborhood and try to get drinks and bum cigarettes," John Bachand said.
The Sheriff's Office said the ALF typically houses 24 or 25 residents and did not appear to be designed to be a secure facility.
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/01/02/TampaBay/At_group_home__one_li.shtml
The deputy said she shot the man, Carl D. Yates, after he refused to throw down the pipe. But it wasn't until he was handcuffed and bleeding that she made another discovery:
The body of Yates' roommate, 70-year-old Elliot Leon, was hidden beneath bloody sheets on a bed. It appeared Leon died of blunt-force trauma to the head, but an autopsy will confirm the cause of death.
"They were some pretty brutal injuries," said Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder, calling the incident "bizarre."
Yates was in stable condition Wednesday night at Lakeland Regional Medical Center with wounds from two of Reisinger's bullets. He had not been charged with Leon's slaying.
Just after 5 a.m. an employee at Sharick's Deck Retirement Ranch reported a homicide at the facility, at 4506 Bruton Road. An employee led Reisinger to Yates' room, suggesting he had been involved in a killing.
Reisinger entered to find Yates lying on his bed, with blood splattered on the walls and on a second bed nearby. He rose from the bed and approached her with the pipe, ignoring repeated commands to throw the weapon down, authorities said. She fired twice, hitting him both times. Yates had been living at the assisted living facility since August.
Authorities would not comment on where Yates got the pipe.
Under the sheets of the second bed, Reisinger found Leon's body. Leon had lived at the home for about five years.
Yates will be charged with two counts of aggravated assault, in connection with threatening a 54-year-old woman who works at the ALF and a 63-year-old man who lives there, and with aggravated assault on an officer for threatening the deputy, officials said.
The deputy has been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. Reisinger, 30, is a 14-month employee of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and formerly worked for the Pasco Sheriff's Office. Her personnel records were not available Wednesday.
Nicolas Ciccarello, the owner of the ALF, declined to comment for this story.
The ALF lies deep in rural northeast Hillsborough, near Plant City, down twisting roads and past country churches, feed stores and a stand selling homemade cane syrup.
The beige and green house has a well-kept exterior and sits behind a white picket fence and an American flag on a pole.
On Wednesday, as several residents, who appeared to be mentally disabled, milled about the grounds in the sun, Hillsborough deputies scoured the building for clues. A medical examiner's van didn't leave until 3:20 p.m.
At least one neighbor across the street on Bruton Road said he assumed the ALF residents were harmless -- until now.
"The men always wander around the neighborhood and try to get drinks and bum cigarettes," John Bachand said.
The Sheriff's Office said the ALF typically houses 24 or 25 residents and did not appear to be designed to be a secure facility.
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/01/02/TampaBay/At_group_home__one_li.shtml