Cpl. Michael Mount, 34, an eight-year veteran of the Eustis Police Department opened fire, where his wife and stepchildren were staying, before killing himself

2 FL Cops Dead, Wives Dead; Murders-Suicide

4 found dead in Lake
3 children, 1 victim's mother unharmed; motive under investigation
Stephen Hudak [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Sarah Lundy and Robert Sargent, Sentinel Staff Writers

February 6, 2006

CASSIA -- Two Eustis police officers and their wives died of gunshot wounds early Sunday in what detectives are investigating as a triple-murder and suicide.

Investigators think Cpl. Michael Mount, 34, an eight-year veteran of the Eustis Police Department, drove his pickup to a rural neighborhood where his wife and stepchildren were staying with a fellow officer's family and opened fire before killing himself.

Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Christie Mysinger said a confrontation preceded the fatal shootings of Kimberly Mount, 35; Officer Jose "Joe" Gomez, 34; and Gomez's wife, Serena, 29.

Three children and Serena Gomez's mother were in the home at the time, but they were not injured, police said.

Kim Mount also worked for Eustis police as an administrative clerk.

"At the department, we're dealing with the tragic loss of four members of our law-enforcement family," said police Chief Fred Cobb, who runs an agency with about 60 officers and staff in the city of 17,000.

The shootings occurred at the Gomez home in the Royal Trails subdivision about 15 miles northeast of Eustis on a street dubbed "police officers' row" by residents because several current and retired law-enforcement officers live there.

Serena Gomez's mother, Debra James, 48, also a guest at her daughter's home, heard gunfire and grabbed her 5-year-old grandson, Justin, then fled to a neighbor's house for help. The neighbor called 911 at 6:09 a.m.

When deputies arrived, they found Kim Mount's children, ages 5 and 10, unharmed in the house. David Greenspan, 65, who lives across the street from the Gomez family, said he saw deputies escort two young children dressed in pajamas and wrapped in blankets from the front door.

"It's devastating what happened to this young and happy couple," Greenspan said of the Gomezes.

Serena Gomez and her son spent the day at the Mounts' home in Tavares, Mysinger said. Mount and her children then went to the Gomez home for the night, she said.

Investigators are looking into whether the Mounts were having marital problems, according to Mysinger, who said there was no evidence of calls about domestic strife involving the couple.

"We don't know the motive yet," she said.

County records show the Mounts married July 16.

Joe and Serena Gomez, an administrative assistant with Tavares' planning and zoning department, moved here a few months ago from Palm Beach County. He had been a policeman in Ocean Ridge, a beachfront town of 2,000.

The couple, who had previously lived with relatives in nearby Boynton Beach, thought Lake County would be a safer, more affordable place to raise a family, friends said.

"She really looked forward to getting the new house and having her first Christmas there," Ocean Ridge town clerk Karen Hancsak said about her close friend.

Ocean Ridge Mayor Kenneth Kaleel said the couple often helped others.

Joe, who started as an officer there in 2003, played Santa Claus at the town's annual holiday parties. Serena started as a police dispatcher in 2000, then became the town's assistant clerk.

"We begged them not to go," Kaleel said.

Mount's former wife was stunned by the news; she described Mount as a good father but declined to talk about him in detail. His sister Karen Parks, reached by telephone in New Hampshire, would not discuss her brother. His parents could not be reached.

Mount, who got his promotion to corporal last month, was hired in 1997 and served as a training officer for Gomez. Cobb, the Eustis chief, praised Mount's work as a police officer.

"Since my arrival as chief, I've watched him mature and was impressed with his performance," he said.

Mount's wife is the daughter of Walter Wolf, a community-services deputy with the Lake County Sheriff's Office assigned to The Villages and a former lieutenant with the Florida Highway Patrol.

Cobb personally informed Wolf of his daughter's death. Sheriff Chris Daniels visited the Wolf family later to offer his condolences. The family declined to talk about the shooting.

Cobb said Mount and Gomez appeared to have become good friends since Gomez was hired Nov. 7. Gomez had served 14 years with police departments in South Florida.

"He has been an outstanding addition to our department," Cobb said.

Cobb also praised Kim Mount, saying she had "great rapport with the public."

The Rev. James Sieling, a chaplain with the Mount Dora Police Department, helped comfort members of the Gomez family, who gathered at an Orange County deputy's home nearby.

"There is really no good answers with something like this," Sieling said.

Experts estimate that as many as 500 officers across the country kill themselves each year, though no central agency tracks police suicides. There have been at least 30 murder-suicides by police officers nationwide during the previous five years, and sociologists say the problem is growing.

Officers who commit suicide commonly have a history of domestic violence. And law-enforcement marriages have a domestic-violence rate twice that of other couples, studies show.

Investigators plan to check today to determine whether Mount's department-issued gun was used.

Cobb said the Lake Sheriff's Office, the FHP and neighboring police agencies offered to help Eustis handle calls and other duties during the next week because of the crisis within the department.

Daniels said that though officers are assigned to uphold the law, they also deal with the same problems in their private lives as everyone else.

"We hire from the human race," the sheriff said. "Everything that exists in the average population, exists with law enforcement."
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Officials: Officer Kills Wife, 2 Others, Commits Suicide

POSTED: 3:19 pm EST February 5, 2006
UPDATED: 6:27 am EST February 6, 2006
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EUSTIS, Fla. -- A police officer apparently shot and killed his wife, a colleague and the co-worker's wife in a home in a rural central Florida subdivision early Sunday before committing suicide, authorities said.


Preliminary results of the investigation show Eustis police Officer Mike Mount and wife Kim Mount, a police clerk, may have had domestic problems before the shootings around 6 a.m., Lake County sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Christie Mysinger said.

Mike Mount drove to the house of fellow Officer and friend Joe Gomez because Kim Mount had stayed there overnight with the couple's two children, Mysinger said. Mount got into the house and some type of confrontation began, she said.

Investigators believe that Mike Mount then shot the three people, including Gomez's wife, Serena Gomez, Mysinger said. The Gomezes' son, Serena Gomez's mother and the Mounts' children all escaped the house unharmed. Serena Gomez's mother went to a neighbor's house to call 911.

Investigators were still examining the crime scene, so more details could be forthcoming, she said. She didn't have the ages of any of the victims or the children.

The Mounts have been married since July 16, according to records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel. Joe and Serena Gomez bought the home about 25 miles north of Orlando in February 2005, according to Lake County property records.

A Eustis police dispatcher referred media calls to the sheriff's office.

David Greenspan, a 65-year-old retired computer technician, lives across the street from the Gomez home, but said he didn't hear anything until patrol cars arrived around 6:30 a.m. He had never noticed any trouble at the house before.

"The nickname of the street is 'Cop Lane' because we have a bunch of cops and retired cops living on the street," he said.

He said the Gomezes were happy to move to central Florida, in part because they wanted to get away from crime in the more urban Boca Raton area where they used to live. He added that the area is so rural that "when a car goes by during the day we all stop and look."