ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A tragic ending to 2014 for one local family: Now, an entire neighborhood is mourning the loss of a husband and wife who they called friends.
Investigators say 48-year-old Timothy West shot and killed his wife, Tonya, then committed "suicide by cop" at a home on Summerhill Circle. Neighbors say the couple were separated and their kids lived at the home with their dad. Monday night, Tonya West came to the house and a fight erupted.
It all unfolded before neighbor CC Stephens after the couple's children ran to his home.
"I had the kids come inside; the daughter had blood on her hands. My wife took care of the kids, I grabbed my phone and called 911," Stephens said.
Stephens calls the couple's daughter the real hero in this case.
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"She went to get her brother out of his room and got him out of the house, got him across the street," Stephens said.
Stephens talked to Timothy West, who police say was holding a shotgun.
"He said something, I asked him what was going on, he said, 'I did it, I shot her, I killed her,'" Stephens said.
The incident has shaken up this entire community. Stephens said West was his friend and never imagined this would happen.
"Yeah, they're good people. Tim is not a violent guy, neither of them were. It (was) just a lot of emotion, a lot of things; obviously things turn fast and we don't know why," Stephens said.
And we may never know why. It's a question Stephens will always think about, but he said his main concern right now is the couple's teenage daughter and 6-year-old son.
Stephens said the kids are with extended family members right now. On Wednesday, they were all supposed to go to the St. Augustine pier together to watch New Year's fireworks, something they've done in the past.
Chris Carlyle, son-in-law of Tim West, released a statement about the couple, which read, in part:
"Tim and Tonya West were married for nearly 15 years ... Their relationship was very loving, supportive, and it was normal to hear them calling each other cute little mushy names it was obvious they were VERY much in love. About six months ago a lover scuffle surfaced that festered into something much bigger ... The kids thought mom was coming over and picking them up for her week but that turned into both parents getting murdered right in front of them. We're all in shock right now and never thought this would happen to our family. There was no signs or past events that lead us to think something like would happen."
Back in May, deputies responded to a missing persons report after one of their children had gone to church with a neighbor without the parents knowing. It didn't trigger an Amber Alert.
Stephens said police gave West plenty of opportunities to drop the weapon but he refused and even pointed it at deputies. He said the officers simply had no choice. Those two officers, Sgt. James Preister and Deputy Joshua Butler, have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard when a deputy is involved in a shooting.
This is the fifth deputy-involved shooting in St. Johns County this year, the fourth where someone has died.
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