PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A woman is expected to survive after being shot 11 times early Sunday morning in Seminole, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Emergency responders were called to the area of Park Boulevard and 134th Street North near Oakhurst United Methodist Church in reference to the shooting.
Deputies said the woman was able to leave the home and reach a neighbor to call 911 after being shot by 65-year-old Wayne Lovell Dew. She was later taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive.
A seven-hour standoff situation developed overnight as the Dew was still believed to be in the house. After numerous times attempts to communicate with the man, he did not surrender.
SWAT was activated and eventually, Pinellas deputies were able to gain access to the home, authorities said. Law enforcement said they found a man with a single gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The area, which is near Oakhurst United Methodist Church, was shut down for most of Sunday morning due to a large law enforcement presence and road closures.
Nathan Carlson, the senior pastor at Oakhurst United Methodist Church, said the sheriff's office called him at 5:40 a.m. saying law enforcement needed to use the church parking lot as a staging area. Shortly after, Carlson made the decision to cancel church services.
"I'm really glad that we have the space near where this is happening to stage the sheriff's office, I'm glad we could work with them," Carlson said. "It just goes to show that this can happen anywhere. We're not immune to it. This is a nice neighborhood. It's a pretty peaceful neighborhood. But this happens anywhere in the United States."
Neighbors told 10 Tampa Bay there had been law enforcement presence in the area since around 2 a.m. Sunday. In the church parking lot, the sheriff's office staged a command post. Dozens of sheriff's vehicles, ambulances, deputies, and paramedics were on standby.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office brought in a bomb squad to assist PCSO with its investigation, a spokesperson for HCSO confirmed.
Heavy machinery was also seen being brought into a residential street where law enforcement officers were seen repeatedly entering and exiting, directly across the street from Oakhurst United Methodist Church.
United Methodist will host an evening service on Sunday at 6 p.m. to replace the morning service that was canceled.
"If the facility reopens, [we plan] to have a 6 p.m. service today, a prayer service for the community," Carlson said. "[It] is always difficult to cancel church services. But during COVID, we learned that church happens anytime, [and] worship can happen any place. And so we are flexible. We figured out that we can do this we can have a nimble response."
This is a developing story. Stay with 10 Tampa Bay for updates.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.