The shooter in the triple killing in Hilliard last week has officially been pronounced dead.
The domestic shooting incident at a West 12th Avenue home on the evening of July 24 left three dead, the shooter “clinically dead” and one survivor – a 5-year-old girl.
Marissa Leara Rowell, 32, Sandra Gayle Fogarty, 71, and Alisha Lael Fogarty, 33, were shot and killed before the shooter, 34-year-old Christopher Bobby Rowell, shot himself in the head. All three victims were found deceased.
The suspect had a faint pulse and was airlifted to a hospital in downtown Jacksonville, according to Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper.
According to an email to the News-Leader from the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday morning, Rowell was “transported to another hospital on Sunday for organ harvesting. The process can take up to three days, but he has not been pronounced at this time.” Rowell was pronounced dead later that day.
“Christopher Rowell, the suspect from last week’s deadly shooting in Hilliard, was officially pronounced deceased this afternoon just after 3 p.m. in a local hospital,” the sheriff’s office said.
Rowell was found in the living room of the Hilliard home July 24 with a gunshot wound to his head with an SKS-style, 7.62-caliber rifle beside him.
“A neighbor across the street reported that a 5-year-old female who was inside the residence at the time of the shooting came to their house banging on the door,” Leeper said at a July 25 press conference held at the Sheriff’s Office in Yulee.
“It appears the shooter first shot the female in the living room, dining room area, then shot the female in the bathroom. And then shot the female in the bedroom. He eventually returned to the living room, where he shot himself in the head,”
Leeper said. Leeper said the department had “a theory” but would like to investigate further before releasing more details. “It’s tragic, it’s heartbreaking and totally, totally was unnecessary,” Leeper said.
Rowell had no prior arrests or history of mental illness, according to Leeper.
There were other weapons stashed inside the home. “He had several magazines fully loaded that were available for his use,” he said.
Leeper said the 5-year-old is a “very strong little girl, very brave,” and she was with other relatives.
“She’s safe, but she was traumatized,” Leeper said. The Nassau County Record reported the relation of the victims to the shooter: Marissa Leara Rowell was the shooter’s wife, Sandra Gayle Fogarty was his mother-in-law and Alisha Lael Fogarty was his sister-in-law.
He did not disclose the relation of the 5-year-old or how she escaped the home.
Leeper said more information would be released following the NSCO investigation.
achandler@fbnewsleader.com