Two motorcyclists - one in Sumter, one in Lake - killed over the weekend
Frank Stanfield
LEESBURG Two motorcyclists were killed in separate accidents in the area over the weekend.
On Friday, a 66-year-old man from Charlevoix, Mich., died when a vehicle turned in front of his bike in Sumter County. He was traveling westbound on State Road 44 at the intersection of Michael Court at 5:30 p.m. Friday when the accident occurred.
The driver of the other vehicle was turning into Publix parking lot. He overturned his bike to try avoid hitting the car but later died of his injuries at a hospital, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Some details are available, but questions remain for investigators, though law enforcement has identified a motive.
Tavares police identified the gunman as 47-year-old Joseph B. Mcguirl, and the victims as Windy Higgins, 39, of Mount Dora, and 41-year-old James Delgiorno, who owned the home at 331 Lakecrest Drive.
Tavares Police Department Lt. Sarah Coursey said Mcguirl and Higgins were romantically involved until Higgins broke it off. Higgins apparently agreed to be friends with Mcguirl after the break-up, but those familiar with the situation said he couldn’t accept that she had moved on with Delgiorno. Which ultimately led to his actions, Coursey wrote in an email.
Police investigating Tavares double-murder-suicide
TAVARES Police are investigating an apparent double-murder and suicide that occurred Thursday morning at a home on the 300 block of Lake Crest Drive.
Leesburg officers asked Tavares police to help contact a man in his 40s who was making suicidal threats at 3:23 a.m. Thursday. The man had left his job in the middle of his night shift and drove to Tavares, officials said.
Police are not releasing names, pending notification of next of kin. Police expect to have contacted relatives by Friday morning.
When Tavares police arrived at the home off Banning Beach Road at 9:15 a.m., neighbors asked officers: “Are you here about the gunshots?”
Allen, of 15202 Ferndale Road, was arrested Friday and held on a $10,000 bond. He has since been released.
Allen told the child’s mother he thought he had hurt the baby. They took the child to South Lake Hospital, which confirmed the injury, noting it was “highly suspicious for non-accidental trauma.”
The next day, Arnold Palmer Hospital listed the right leg injury as “non-accidental traumatic injury of a right distal tibia fracture,” according to the arrest affidavit.