PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — A woman is fighting for her life and her husband is dead following a shooting and a SWAT standoff that lasted nearly seven hours in Pinellas County Wednesday.
Pinellas Park police responded to a call of a shooting a little after 7:30 a.m. in a business parking lot in the 7800 block of 66th Street North.
According to police, 47-year-old David Wittman confronted his wife, later identified as 42-year-old Anna Wittman, at her work in Pinellas Park and forcefully removed her from the location and into the parking lot. Once in the parking lot, David Wittman opened fire at Anna Wittman multiple times and fled the scene.
Anna Wittman was transported to Bayfront Medical Center, where she remains in critical condition.
Minutes after the incident, officers found David Wittman, who was armed with a handgun, at his family's home on 80th Avenue North in Pinellas Park. Police were told that multiple long guns, including an AR-15 style rifle, may be inside Wittman's home.
The SWAT team was then activated and their members tried to negotiate with David Wittman for nearly seven hours.
"I was hoping the fella would surrender," Kim Ross said. Ross lives a few houses down from the home. She said police told her to stay inside. She watched the negotiations through her window.
"You could hear him yelling that from the corner, 'just put your hands up, walk out' and that didn’t happen," Ross said.
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A little before 2:30 p.m., officers tried to apprehend David Wittman outside his home without using lethal force, but was unsuccessful, police said. After a series of attempts, two members of the SWAT team opened fire at David Wittman, killing him.
No law enforcement officers were injured in the shooting.
According to public records, Wittman was accused of burglary back in 1998. Below is his mugshot from that arrest.
Crisis negotiation truck on scene of SWAT situation in Pinellas Park. Authorities actively speaking to suspect after he allegedly took wife out of work office at gunpoint, then shot her multiple times in parking lot. @abcactionnews pic.twitter.com/G6HCHibCfb
— Nicole Grigg (@NicoleSGrigg) April 10, 2019
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