VENICE, Fla. — The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of two people Friday night.
According to deputies, they were alerted around 5 p.m. of a possible battery situation in a neighborhood off of E. Seminole Drive in South Venice where the first deputy on the scene was approached by a person with a knife who had a lot of bleeding coming from his torso area.
The sheriff's office said in a news release on Saturday that the deputy told the person to drop the knife, but the person refused, threw the knife at the deputy and ran toward him.
The deputy then reportedly used non-lethal force to bring the person to the ground.
Law enforcement says they entered the home when the person came out and found a woman with several stab wounds.
When paramedics arrived at the scene, they performed lifesaving efforts on the person and woman but were pronounced dead, deputies say. An animal in the home was also found with stab wounds and is in critical condition.
The deputy who was charged by the person was transported to the hospital but did not sustain any serious injuries.
The person armed with the knife was identified as Eduardo Lopez Garcia, 48, and he was originally arrested on Aug. 24 for domestic battery but was released the next day on bond, authorities say.
Detectives with the sheriff's office say that based on the preliminary investigation, they believe both deaths were the result of a murder-suicide. There are not any other people involved in the incident.
