Last update – 4:21 p.m.
VERO BEACH – The Vero Beach Police Department has confirmed that the shooting that occurred Monday morning at the Royal Palm Convalescent Center was a murder-suicide.
Police spokesman Officer John Morrison said Monday afternoon that Frederick Lett, 91, came to the center to visit his 84-year-old wife, Mary P. Lett, who had been staying at the facility since September.
During the visit, Mr. Lett shot his wife once in the head and then turned the gun on himself, Officer Morrison said. The shooting happened in the courtyard.
“It’s a tragic thing,” the officer said, adding that there was no immediate signs of a motive for the murder-suicide.
Investigators are still talking with relatives and employees at the nursing home before closing the case.
Officer Morrison said that he did not know how Mr. Lett had come to be in possession of the gun used in the shooting.
The Vero Beach Police Department was called out at 8:51 a.m. to 2180 10th Ave. regarding shots fired.
An employee heard one gun shot and then another and looked outside and saw the bodies, Officer Morrison said.
Traffic was shut down along 10th Avenue from Royal Palm Boulevard to US 1. The road was reopened sometime before 3 p.m.