PARRISH, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida woman was shot and killed while looking for a lost dog, deputies said.
Rebecca Rawson and her daughter showed up at a home along Pritchart Road Tuesday night to retrieve her dog Bart. One of them went to the door, knocked, and called the dog’s name. The dog came to the door, and one of the family members picked up the dog.
That’s when deputies claim Eugene Matthews, 83, opened the front door and started shooting.
He fired a handgun into the air, deputies claim, and one of the shots went through the windshield of the vehicle parked in the driveway, striking Rawson, who was in the driver’s seat.
She was taken to a local hospital where she died, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
It’s believed no one else was hurt.
“It’s a little scary,” said neighbor Louis Barnes. “I really don’t know what to quite think of that all.”
A mannequin dressed in military gear and goggles watches over Matthews’ home. Three machine guns are also on a tower with the mannequin. A sign on a driveway fence warns people they’ll be shot and 911 won’t be called if they enter the property.
Neighbors tell us he was often arm and protected the potato farm across the street from his home.
Matthews is charged with 2nd degree murder.
He’s expected in a Manatee County Courtroom Wednesday afternoon, a jail worker said.