Florida sheriff deputy kills family and then himself near a school

A sheriff's deputy announced that he gunned down his wife, daughter and grandaughter over his police radio, before taking his own life in front of his colleagues.

Terry Strawn admitted on the main channel of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's radio system that he had killed his relatives before providing directions to where two of the bodies could be found, sheriff Chad Chronister told a news conference.

The bodies of his wife Theresa, 54, 32-year-old daughter, Courtney, and 6-year-old granddaughter, Londyn, were later discovered at two addresses by investigators. The 58-year-old had used his service revolver to kill them.

Mr Chronister said Strawn who was named Officer of the Year for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in 2009, then said he was going to kill himself at Plant City High School.

“The supervisor immediately got on air and did everything they could to talk him down, calm him down, and bring some calm to the situation,” he said, adding that they implored him: "'Don’t do something that’s a permanent solution to a temporary problem.’"

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It was unclear why he had chosen that location to take his own life.

Talking to the dispatcher, Mr Chronister said Strawn had alluded to health and financial problems motivating him to take his life. The sheriff’s department was not aware of those problems but that they were being investigated.

He added: “I'm saddened but I'm also disheartened that a deputy sheriff — a Hillsborough County deputy sheriff — would ever, ever cause harm to another individual.”

Three deputies were dispatched to find the suicidal man, but were unable to talk him out of killing himself.

“Unfortunately, the deputy took his life on scene in front of the three deputies”, Mr Chronister said.

Strawn first started working on the force in 1991, and had retired for two years before being rehired earlier this year to provide security at an elementary school following February's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which claimed the lives of 17 people, including 14 students.

“There's been absolutely no indication of any type of behavioural issues,” Mr Chronister said of Strawn. “Glowing recommendations throughout his entire training process, job evaluations, again no indication whatsoever that would lead us to believe — that would lead a prude and reasonable person to believe — that this deputy would ever conduct himself in a manner that he did.”

The killings come three months after another deputy killed his wife before taking his own life.

The sheriff’s office to open a suicide awareness program shortly afterwards.