A vacation rental on Anastasia Island called Sandpiper Beach House was the scene of a murder-suicide Saturday night involving two Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputies.
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Editor’s Note: This story includes a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or suicidepreventionlifeline.org, or call the Tampa Bay Crisis Center at 2-1-1.
Authorities were seen evacuating people Saturday night through the second-story windows of a beach vacation rental where a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Detective killed another deputy and then himself, said a neighbour.
Detective Daniel Leyden, 31, fatally shot and killed a deputy with whom he was romantically involved before turning the gun on himself, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The shooting happened in the bedroom of a vacation home in the Butler Beach area on Anastasia Island near St. Augustine.
The pair were heard arguing in a bedroom by other deputies vacationing with them just before gunshots rang out, the sheriff’s office said. The office referred questions to investigators at the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office, where the shooting took place.
The office did not respond to questions about the shooting, saying, “Our thoughts and prayers are with those in Hillsborough County affected by this unimaginable tragedy. At the same time, this incident is still under active and ongoing investigation.
A man who lives next door said dozens of deputies invaded the rental at 5318 State Road A1A S after dark Saturday and ordered his family to stay inside their home. An hour later, the family heard the sound of gunfire, said neighbor William Wallace, 70.
During that time, they saw people being evacuated from the house using ladders and heard authorities over a loudspeaker ordering a man out with his hands on his head, Wallace said.
“It was all shocking,” Wallace said. “But to hear that those involved were part of the force, I couldn’t believe it.”
After the shots, Wallace said he repeatedly called the St. Johns Sheriff’s Office to get a go-ahead. He was told he could be back to normal around 1.30am
When deputies first arrived, they told Wallace to turn off all lights and stay away from windows because of an active scene nearby. His family agreed, but peeked out the windows from time to time, he said. Her 19-year-old son locked himself in his room.
The bodies were removed from the house on Sunday morning, Wallace said.
The shooting scene is a popular vacation rental home, advertised on sites including Booking.com and Airbnb, and is almost always occupied, Wallace said. Called the Sandpiper Beach House, the two-story rental sleeps eight people and has three bedrooms and three bathrooms, according to rental sites.
It is located about two blocks west of the Atlantic Ocean on the A1A beach highway.
The Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office said the deputy Leyden shot and killed was assigned to Sheriff’s District 3, based at 7202 Gunn Hwy in Citrus Park. The MP’s name was not released.
Leyden had been a detective since June 2021 with the Sheriff’s Shooting Response Investigations Team — four detectives, four deputies and a supervising sergeant who investigate non-fatal shootings in Hillsborough County. The team was created in response to an increase in shootings.
Before that, Leyden apparently worked as a patrolman. Traffic citations issued by a Deputy of the same name are on file from 2017 to August 2020 with the Clerk’s Office of Hillsborough Circuit Court.
The deputies staying at the vacation home were off duty and did not violate any agency policies prior to the shooting, the sheriff’s office said. No internal investigation is planned.
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