DELTONA, Fla. — A 37-year-old Deltona woman was in critical condition early Sunday after being shot multiple times by her boyfriend, who was later found dead, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said.
Terra Wilcox called 911 at about 12:30 a.m. from her home on Michael Avenue to report that her boyfriend, 34-year-old Earl Pallasch, had broken her car’s windshield with a chainsaw, choked her and threatened her with a gun, said Gary Davidson, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
“The woman had walked away from the residence to make the 911 call. But about three minutes into the call, the victim started screaming that her boyfriend was coming towards her with a gun,” Davidson said. “Moments later, the sound of gunfire could be heard and the woman told the call-taker that she had been shot.”
Deputies found the bleeding woman lying in the road at Worthington Drive and Cary Street. Despite not knowing where the shooter was, deputies carried Wilxcox to a safer area, where paramedics could treat her, Davidson said.
Wilcox was brought to Sanford’s Central Florida Regional Hospital, where she remained in critical condition.
Shortly before 1 a.m., a shot was fired toward deputies as a manhunt was underway. Five hours later, deputies found Pallasch’s body beside a shotgun in a wooded area near his home, Davidson said.
Two homes were evacuated during the incident, and residents in neighboring homes were warned to remain indoors.
"The helicopters came and the SWAT [team] was running up and down the street," said Cassandra Quincoces, who lives in the subdivision. "It was crazy. They yelled at us to go inside."
Friends of Wilcox told Channel 9 she returned to her ex-boyfriend's house for the weekend to have her car repaired by a former neighbor who sought to help the single mother.
They said she moved out of the neighborhood last month ago after she and Pallasch broke up after five years of dating.
Minutes before Wilcox was shot, neighbors said they heard her asking for her keys so she could leave.
Wilcox's ex-husband, who ask to not be identified out of concern for their daughter, described Pallasch as unstable.
Court records indicate Pallasch was arrested on a domestic battery charge in 2008, accused of strangling another woman with whom he lived in DeBary. But the charges were later dropped.
Cox Media Group
