SPRING HILL, Fla. — Rick Webb was wounded last Thursday in his store, "Smokes" Smoke shop, by a man on a violent multi-county shooting spree.
ABC Action News spoke to Webb’s wife Corinne about her husband’s recovery and how he was able to stop the senseless violence before more lives were lost.
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“He knew something was going to happen,” Corinne Webb said. “He gave him the keys. Gave him the money and said ‘please don’t shoot me, just take it and go’ and he pulled the trigger anyway.”
The bullet went through Webb’s right chest exiting near his left armpit, then traveling through his left bicep.
Corinne Webb said her husband had no idea that Theodore Parker was on the run.
Last Thursday, the Hernando County sheriff said Parker violently attacked his niece in his Pasco County home. Then he drove to Spring Hill in Hernando County where he shot and killed his brother-in-law James Elswick on Olsen Rd.
Webb didn’t know the man he shot had died until hours after the shooting.
“He was upset when the guy died. I see the tears in his eyes, because that’s not what he wanted to do, he had to protect himself. I’ve seen him cry twice in 17 years, so that was hard,” Corinne Webb said.
The couple are high school sweethearts. They’ve been married for eight years and have a 2-year-old daughter. Corinne Webb doesn’t think her husband would be alive today if he didn’t have his gun on him.
“Who knows if the guy would’ve pulled the trigger again,” Corinne Webb said.
"It was extremely frightening because it's just so random," said Patricia Laramee, a nearby business owner.
"We really hope that you’re able to recover from this physically, emotionally, and financially and the community is with you," said Laramee.
Corinne Webb said her husband doesn’t have health insurance. She set up a GoFundMe to help with medical costs.
The store reopens tomorrow.
