Suspect in attempted murder-suicide was former undercover cop, went by 2 names

A shooter and a victim are fighting for their lives at a hospital after an attempted murder-suicide.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded Thursday evening at the AvMed parking lot on Riverplace Boulevard on Jacksonville’s Southbank.

JSO said the two knew each other. Police identified the suspect as 58-year-old William Chase Jr. and the victim as 52-year-old Lynn Herriott. Chase's brother tells Action News Jax he also went by the name Dexter Levin, a name Chase used during his work as an undercover officer.

Action News Jax found a paper trail exempting public records because Levin was a statewide narcotics task force officer in Bridgeport, Connecticut for 13 years.

In December of 2016, a police report shows Chase, also known as “Levin” stuck a gun to the victim’s face and threaten to kill her. The report says they were dating for five years and lived together for two months. After the relationship ended, Herriott complained that Chase would contact on average about 20 times a day through email.

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Herriott reported an incident where she felt threatened for her life. The police report reads in part, “Dexter pointed a silver handgun at her head and grabbed her by the throat causing her airway to be blocked.”

It says Dexter told her if she screamed he was going to kill her and he wore purple latex gloves while choking her.

The police report also states, “The victim advised Dexter got upset with her and put the gun to the bottom of his chin. The victim advised the suspect pulled the trigger and the gun made a clicking noise, but didn’t go off.”

They say that’s when Herriott ran for help.

It also appears Levin worked as a law professor at Strayer University.

According to police, the shooter and victim are alive, but in critical condition. Officials have not said where they were shot or how many times. Police are looking at surveillance video and going through records of previous domestic violence or criminal history. Herriott had filed two previous restraining orders against Chase.

Cox Media Group