A man shot to death by a relative at his Lithia, Florida home Wednesday appears to be a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who worked with U.S. Central Command in Tampa.
Citing an active investigation, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office declined Wednesday to release information on the shooting at a home in FishHawk Ranch including the name of the shooter or the person who was shot. A sheriff’s spokeswoman confirmed the man who was shot was in his 50s.
Based on Sheriff’s Office activity at the scene, the shooting happened at a home in the 15000 block of Starling Water Drive owned by Timothy and Colleen Missler, property records show.
The Tampa Bay Times requested a preliminary case summary report and autopsy for a 50-year-old Timothy Missler from the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner, but a county spokeswoman said the records are exempt from disclosure because they are part of an active criminal investigation.
A woman who answered at a phone number listed for Colleen Missler hung up Wednesday when a Times reporter identified himself. According to information released by the Sheriff’s Office, a call was made from the home to 911 at 6:56 p.m. Wednesday.
The caller, a man in his 20s, told dispatchers that a male relative had threatened him with a gun. The caller said he armed himself because he was in fear for his life then shot the relative several times, the Sheriff’s Office said.
When deputies arrived at the scene, they found the older man dead.
The caller was cooperating with investigators, the Sheriff’s Office said. No arrests had been made as of Wednesday.
According to his Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Timothy Missler was a retired lieutenant colonel who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 22 years, retiring in 2016, and worked as an instructor pilot for L3 Technologies.
From 2014 to 2016, he worked in Tampa at U.S. Marine Corps Central Command, or \u00adMARCENT, according to the LinkedIn profile. Among his duties was to supervise “three top secret and secret operational and concept supporting plans to Central Command’s … series campaign plans,” the profile says.
His Facebook profile describes him as a “happily married father of two wonderful boys.”
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