People who live in the Timberwoods condo complex in Seminole are back in their homes.
A violent confrontation in the parking lot turned into a 5-hour standoff with a tragic ending.
“Gun and run. And my shoes are still laying in the middle of the driveway, ran right out of them.”
That’s how Jason Suhadolnik describes the chaotic scene after a confrontation with 65-year-old Cheryl Karpinecz.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Karpinecz told Suhadolnik “this is not a garage” and the two got into an argument.
“She hit me full force. I think she tied to hit me in the face. I kind of moved. She hit me, caught me here,” said Suhadolnik, pointing to the left part of his neck.
Suhadolnik called 911.
Deputies arrived to find Karpinecz on her back porch.
“She was sitting there and she had a revolver handgun. And she took it out and she pointed it at the deputies,” said the sheriff.
The deputies took cover.
Later, Karpinecz wouldn’t answer the door, so more deputies arrived, set up a perimeter, and used an armored vehicle to try to make contact.
Five hours later, the SWAT team went inside her condo.
“She was found deceased in the bed. She had shot herself in the head,” said Sheriff Gualtieri.
The sheriff says Karpenecz has a history of mental illness and a criminal record. She’s been in and out of the system for years.
Suhadolnik is convinced she could have killed him.
“The only reason she didn’t come out and confront me is because there was two sheriffs there,” said Suhadolnik.
“If I would have went and continued to work on my truck, she would have came over, I believe, and shot me from behind,” he said.
No deputies were injured.
