Police chief: Infant hurt during shooting

The windows at the home Rolly Thomas and Marsha Alexander shared are boarded up, a sign of the shooting that erupted there Saturday morning.

Police say they arrived at the home in the 1500 block of NE 43rd lane in Cape Coral for a domestic disturbance that escalated into a SWAT situation. Police declined to confirm the name of the couple involved, but said the suspect shot one person in the home before turning his gun on police. Officers returned gunfire and evacuated people from the home. When police entered the home, they found the suspect dead.

The home, records show, is owned byThomas. A family member of the couple said Saturday it was Thomas and Marsha Alexander who were involved. Alexander and a baby were transported to a local hospital where they are in stable condition. "She's doing a lot better," Chris Alexander said about his sister Marsha.

He declined to characterize what the relationship was between Alexander and Thomas. "Hopefully she'll get better soon and continue living her life."

According to the brother, children in the home are doing well.

Five children were removed from the home, according to Natalie Harrell, communications director for the Department of Children and Families.

The agency, she said, has opened a child protective investigation into what happened.

Harrell said she could not release ages of the children. "The situation is still fluid so I don't have any further information to release at this time," Harrell wrote in an email.

The disturbance was reported to law enforcement just before 1 a.m. as an open 911 call. As police arrived, the suspect shot someone in the home and then opened fire on police, said Cape Coral public affairs officer Sgt. Dana Coston. Police returned it and evacuated people from the home, Coston said.

Police are trying to establish a timeline of events at this time, Coston said. "Once concluded, we will share that information in its entirety. We will not be giving it out in dribs and drabs so that an incomplete and inaccurate timeline can be put together piecemeal."

No officers were injured. The officer who fired at Thomas has been placed on administrative leave as standard procedure, he said.

Coston also said the department would not be providing identities because they need to notify next-of-kin face to face.

Coston said he did not have information on previous calls for service to the home.

Cape Coral police Chief Bart Connelly, in a statement, said the two victims are in stable condition.

"As for the deceased…the loss of life is tragic in any circumstance, and in this case, as with so many others, this death will affect many people for the rest of their lives. The protection of life is a primary mission of law enforcement and unfortunately, under certain circumstances, officers must take action in protecting life that causes the death of another. In most cases the decision resulting in that death rests with the deceased, not the officer," Connelly said.

Connelly said he was "extremely proud of the heroic actions of our officers who placed themselves in harm's way under gunfire, and for rendering aid to those wounded in this terrible act of violence."

What happened

Kelly Smith, 22, said she awoke at 1:30 a.m. to the sounds of a negotiator speaking through a megaphone.

The stalemate between police and the suspect lasted almost four hours.

"I heard the negotiator trying to talk to the father, trying to get him to come out to give him medical attention," said Smith, 22.

The negotiator was on a loud speaker and he was asking for the man to give a signal he understood the instructions, she said. However, it didn't seem like he was cooperating, Smith said.

The man and woman that live in the home are nice, neighbors said.

"I always wave to the man," said Donna Vickers, who has lived on the street since 2011. She said the couple has lived there longer than she has.

"She stopped me one time and asked me about my mom," Donna Vickers said. Her mother, Jean Vickers, was away because of a hospital stay.

"They are very friendly," Donna Vickers said.

It's unusual for there to be such a large police presence there, Vickers said. Homes are bordered by large expanses of grass. The most trouble Vickers said she has had is with animals: armadillos, skunks, raccoons, and even an alligator.

"It's just so sad," she said. "It's horrible, the poor kids. I hope the wife is OK."