Joe Landon shot and killed his son, Noah Ryan Presley Landon, and himself at Advent Health Hospital in Sebring, Florida, deputies said. (Screenshot: WFTS)
A father who struggled to care for his son took the man to a hospital, only to fatally shoot him and then turn the gun on himself, according to deputies in Highlands County, Florida.
In an email to Law&Crime, the sheriff’s office identified the father as Joe E. Landon, 67, and the son as Noah Ryan Presley Landon, 23. Sheriff Paul Blackman and his office, said they received 911 calls at 11:26 a.m. on Thursday regarding a possible shooting at the AdventHealth Hospital in the city of Sebring. Deputies arrived three minutes later to find two men dead in what was described as a “mental health room.”
It turned out that the father had contacted authorities earlier that morning regarding a confrontation with his son to get the son to the hospital for help.
The sheriff, who described the younger man as “special needs,” said that the 23-year-old had been having “a rough day. He was having a very difficult day.”
According to Blackman, the detective at the initial scene said there was no indication that the father was “thinking of something this drastic.”
“From the preliminary investigation, it appears a 66-year-old Sebring man brought his adult son to the hospital,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “Reportedly, the father was having difficulties with his son, who was being somewhat combative.”
The son was put in a mental health room in the ER, but the father then pulled out a gun and fired into a wall as an apparent attempt to get other people out of the room. There were two initial shots, Blackman said.
“He then shot his son, who was lying on a bed, and then shot himself,” authorities wrote. “Both men died on the scene. There were no other injuries.”
A friend, Ben Tucciarone, told Tampa ABC affiliate WFTS that when he heard, he knew that it was Landon and the son who were involved.
“I knew immediately,” Tucciarone said. “Very tragic. Very tragic.”
The father, he said, was struggling to take care of both the son and also his own medical challenges.
“In recent weeks, he’s been struggling with his son — taking care of him — frustrated he wasn’t getting no help from outside sources,” he said. “I think that was the only solution he had in his own mind.”
“Reach out to the state and get some help,” said Tucciarone, who also has an adult son living with a disability. “Don’t ever hurt your child.”
“You can always call 988 and get some help on the line, or you can call the sheriff’s office, and we’ll be more than happy to send someone there to try to work with you through that problem,” Sheriff Blackman said.
The hospital released a statement about the tragedy:
Following the incident that occurred in the Emergency Room at AdventHealth Sebring late Thursday morning, we want to reassure everyone that no team members were harmed. We continue to offer confidential mental health resources and our chaplains are currently on site to support our AdventHealth Sebring family.
Team members from nearby AdventHealth facilities have also been brought in to allow those employees who were working at the time of the incident to return home.
AdventHealth Sebring will continue to support the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office as they investigate. The Emergency Room at AdventHealth Sebring has resumed normal operations.
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