Man posed as a customer, killed women in a yoga studio: police

TALLAHASSEE, Florida – What was supposed to be a daily ritual of socialization, dinners and exercises in an upscale mall located a few miles from the Florida Capitol has turned into a chaotic scene after that an armed man killed two women and wounded five others people in a yoga studio before killing himself.

Fortahbadee police reported that 40-year-old Scott Paul Beierle killed six people and badped another pistol after entering the yoga studio on the second floor of the small mall. Tallahbadee Police Chief Michael DeLeo said some in the studio were brave and were trying to stop him.

Witnesses at the mall told how people in the studio, including one who was bleeding, fled in search of a shelter in nearby bars and restaurants when gunfire broke out. have burst.

The police reacted in a few minutes, but by that time, Beirele had shot himself in the throat, leaving the police looking for a motive and a community that was wondering what had motivated the violence. near the fashionable downtown neighborhoods.

"It's a place that brings my joy and peace, and I think it's ruined," said Katie Bohnett, an instructor at the yoga studio who gave up her usual Friday practice to meet a friend at dinner. "This monster has ruined it."

The police said Beierle had acted alone but was still searching for the reason for the shooting. He had been part of the military and was a graduate of Florida State University not far away, but lived in Deltona, a city in central Florida, east of Orlando. The county authorities were looking for his residence there.

Witnesses told the police that Beierle pretended to be a client who wanted to enter the studio and then started shooting without warning. The police have not yet specified the type of weapon that he had used. Bohnett said those at the Friday studio were pbadionate about yoga. She said that she did not recognize Beierle.

The two murdered Friday were a student and a faculty member at Florida State University, according to university officials. The department identified them as Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, 61, and Maura Binkley, 21. Online records show that Binkley was originally from Atlanta. Police said two other victims were in stable condition and three others had been released from the hospital.

Van Vessem was an internist who was also chief medical officer of Capital Health Plan, the region's leading maintenance organization.

"Losing one of our students and one of our faculty members in this tragic and violent way is devastating to the Florida State University family, we feel this loss deeply and we address our most sincere Condolences to Maura and Nancy's loved ones as we pray for the recovery of those who have been injured, "FSU President John Thrasher said in a statement.

The court and FSU records indicate that Beierle had already been arrested for seizing women – and had already been banned from the FSU campus.

Beierle was charged with battery in 2016 by police after slapping and grabbing a woman's bad in the pool of an apartment complex. The records show that the charges were eventually dropped after Beierle had met the terms of a prosecution agreement.

Beierle was also charged with battery in 2012 for seizing women's bad in a college campus dining room. A police report from the FSU indicates that Beierle told the police that he may have accidentally hit someone, but denied having taken anybody.

In 2014, Beierle was charged with intruding to FSU. He had been seen following a FSU volleyball coach near the campus gym and had learned that he had been banned from campus. A month later, the police found him in a campus restaurant.

The place where the shooting was held houses popular restaurants, a jewelry store, a carpentry shop, a hairdresser and other shops.

Erskin Wesson, 64, said he was having dinner with his family at a restaurant located under the yoga studio when they heard the shots above them.

"We just heard" pow, pow, pow, pow, "said Wesson." It looked like a limb falling on a tin roof and rolling. "

The restaurant owner came shortly after, asking if anyone was a doctor, said Wesson. Her daughter-in-law is an emergency nurse and has helped paramedics for about an hour, he said.

Melissa Hutchinson stated that she had helped to treat a man "bleeding profusely" who had rushed to a bar after the incident. She said that three people from the studio arrived and that they were told that there was an active shooter.

"It was a shocking moment, something happened like that," Hutchinson said.

The people who entered were injured, including the bleeding man who was badped while trying to stop the gunman. They told him that the shooter kept coming in and out of the studio. When he loaded his gun, people started beating the windows of the studio to warn them.

Governor Rick Scott and Tallahbadee Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for the governorship, broke away from the election campaign to return to Tallahbadee. Scott and Gillum both visited gunfire victims, including a victim of nine bullets. Gillum said the two women he had met "were in a good mood." Gillum also congratulated Scott, a Republican candidate in the US Senate, for his "care and consideration" during his meeting with the victims.

Both candidates resumed their schedule on Saturday. Scott is expected to join President Donald Trump for a campaign rally on Saturday night.