Florida woman says she accidentally shot, killed her husband

Friends say man committed suicide in Ormond-by-the-Sea home

ORMOND-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. – A woman told a neighbor she accidentally shot and killed her husband inside their Ormond-by-the-Sea home on Easter Sunday, but friend and family members say the man committed suicide.

[LISTEN:  911 call released in fatal shooting]

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office on Monday released a 911 call in the shooting, which happened around 3 a.m. Sunday at a home on Seabreeze Drive.

Deputies identified the man as 55-year-old Sanford Olson.  His wife, 57-year-old Doris Barrells, told her neighbor that the shooting was an accident, deputies said. 

"My next door neighbor just came over here beating on the door saying that her gun went off and she shot her husband," the neighbor said on the 911 call.   "She was just beating on the door and she sounds like she's wasted."

"She said this is accidental?" the 911 dispatcher asked.

"That's what she said," the neighbor replied.  "She said it's not good, it's not good.  ...  She was hysterical, but she's also wasted and they're wasted a lot."

Deputies said they found Olson's body in a bed with a gun beside him.

Jim Wideen, who grew up with Olson in Wisconsin and now lives in Tavares, said Olson was addicted to alcohol and pain pills, and the day of the shooting Olson had been drinking beer and whiskey for 18 hours before taking pills.

Friends and family members also told Local 6 that Olson had been depressed and unemployed for the past three years and refused to get help.

Wideen said Barrells had just woke Olson up from where he fell asleep to tell him to move to his bed. She told friends once in the room, Olson yelled for her and when she came in, he had a gun to his head. Barrells told them she lunged for the gun to stop Olson when it went off.

Friends say Barrells blurted out to the neighbor that she shot him because she was upset.

Deputies said as of Monday afternoon, no findings of criminal offense related to Olson's death have been found. Deputies said although the official cause of death won't be determined until the final autopsy report is issued, it doesn't plan to file criminal charges against Barrells.

Olson and Barrells got married in 2007 and dated for 11 years before that, friend said.


Recommended Videos