MELBOURNE, Fla. – In a set of dramatic 911 calls released Wednesday, two 5-year-old children can be heard screaming, crying and pleading after a triple shooting at a home in Melbourne on New Year's Day.
Melbourne police say William Stillwell, 39, went to a home on Woodsmill Drive and shot three people inside. All three victims are expected to survive.
Neighbors told News 6 that Stillwell's wife had moved into the home with her parents and the couple's two children because she and Stillwell were having marital problems.
Several people called 911 in the moments after the shooting, including a victim at the home, neighbors and Stillwell's parents.
In two calls made from inside the home, a woman and two children can be heard screaming in the background and a man can be heard yelling and cursing.
"Please come help me. Please, please, please," a woman tells a 911 operator.
News 6 is not publishing the calls made from inside the home due to their traumatic nature.
Less than 20 seconds later, a child sobs, "I don't want anybody to die." That cry is followed by a child pleading, "don't shoot mommy" about a minute later.
The woman can be heard again about 30 seconds later screaming, "Run baby, run."
Police said that woman was shot in the left kneecap, leaving her unable to move.
Around the same time, a neighbor called 911 saying that a man and woman in their 50s or 60s had come to his home after being shot at the residence next door. He said the man was shot in the hip and police said the woman was shot in the elbow and abdomen.
"It was actually (the victim's) husband doing this," a man who lives next door said.
Although they weren't in the area at the time of the shooting, Stillwell's parents also called 911 saying that they had been on the phone with someone inside the home when they heard screaming and then the line suddenly went dead.
"Hopefully we don't have anything too bad to deal with," Stillwell's father told a 911 operator.
Police said the three shooting victims were taken to a hospital for treatment and are in stable condition. Three of the family's dogs escaped from the home during the incident and were later recovered.
Stillwell was arrested at the home on three counts of attempted felony murder, armed burglary, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and two counts of child abuse.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).