VERO BEACH, Fla. — A 52-year-old woman is dead after being shot Sunday morning in Vero Beach, and the Indian River County Sheriff's Office is searching for a person of interest in what investigators are treating as a domestic violence homicide.
At approximately 8:41 a.m. Sunday, the sheriff's office received a 911 call reporting a woman in the roadway in the 500 block of 1st Street. Deputies located the woman with an apparent gunshot wound and began life-saving measures. She was transported to a trauma center, where she was later pronounced dead.
Detectives and crime scene personnel processed the scene outside the victim's home.
Sheriff Eric Flowers identified the person of interest as 33-year-old Matthew Allen Waggle of Sebastian. Investigators believe Waggle and the victim were in an on-and-off relationship and that he fled the area in a vehicle.
"We have put out a nationwide BOLO for him at this point — be on the look out. Our team is working with real time crime center. Our detectives have been working on this all day and its our goal to ultimately locate him," Flowers said.
The sheriff said Waggle should be considered armed and dangerous.
"If you encounter this person, don't approach him," Flowers said. "It's possible that he could harm other people or himself. We don't know those details so at this point we should treat it as a very serious situation," Flowers said.
Marco Cardenas, a longtime resident of the area, said his siblings live in the complex and were shaken by the shooting near their home.
"My brother actually heard the shot," Cardenas said. "So he went inside to check on my sister."
Cardenas said the neighborhood is typically quiet. "Nothing like this should happen, like especially in quiet neighborhoods," Cardenas said.
He said he hopes an arrest comes soon. "I just hope that they find the suspect," Cardenas said.
Flowers called the incident a tragedy and says detectives are using resources such as flock cameras to investigate Waggle's whereabouts.
"At this point we're not sure but this could be a domestic violence incident. It's always a tragedy. It's a loss of life that's so unnecessary," Flowers said. "So our team is committed to work on that."
Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. M. Kachele at 772-978-6240 or mkachele@ircsheriff.org, or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers.
