Preparedness
Laundry Spat Escalates to Double Homicide in Florida Retirement Community
A 75-year-old man finds himself behind bars after a seemingly small tiff over laundry escalated into a tragic double homicide in a retirement community in Florida. Henry Wallace, 81, took issue with an open laundry room door, leading him to confront his upstairs neighbor, Susan Hootman, according to WPBF News.
Susan Hootman was recorded on a 911 call saying, “The neighbor downstairs just the other day shouted at me and swore at me regarding the washer and dryer.”
The incident took a fatal turn when Hugh Hootman, upset by Wallace’s aggressive interaction with his wife, confronted Wallace. WPBF reports that Hootman demanded Wallace apologize as he was fetching his mail. In response, Wallace attempted to brush past Hootman, prompting Hootman to act.
Local 10 News states that Hootman pulled a gun and fired two shots into Wallace’s chest. The violence did not end with Wallace; Ginger Wallace, Henry’s wife, was also shot by Hootman after she appeared to investigate the noise.
“I lost my temper,” Wallace confessed to the police, as reported by Local 10.
Following the shocking act, Hootman returned to his apartment, instructing his wife to alert the authorities of his lethal actions. “Call the police – I just shot Henry and Ginger,” Hootman allegedly requested of his wife, according to a tweet by WPBF25News.
When the police arrived, they found Hootman in his recliner, silently grappling with the reality of his actions. The grim scene was not only witnessed by Hootman’s wife, but also by a mailman. Raymond Boze, a neighbor, recounted his conversation with the mailman who was standing near the bodies, “His body was lying right here, and she was lying there like a baby, curled up, and [the mailman] was standing there, and I said, ‘Are you calling 911?’ and he said, ‘Yeah,'”.
Upon his arrest, Hootman expressed remorse. “So sorry. I wish I could take it back,” he told the officers, as quoted by WPBF.
The community has been left shaken by the harrowing incident. One neighbor, Kathy Barger, recalled the last moments of Ginger Wallace with a haunting clarity. “I heard [Ginger Wallace] yell, ‘Oh, no, no.’ And then she screamed, and then she was silent. That’ll stay with me all my days,” she shared with WPBF.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Old Man
August 27, 2024 at 2:16 pm
The moral of the story…don’t mess with the elderly!
Matthew
August 27, 2024 at 6:06 pm
Since the comment box seems to be the only way to make contact w/the article’s “author,” and G&G’s founder, Jack Morgan, I guess it will have to do…The story, “Laundry Spat Escalates to Double Homicide in Florida Retirement Community,” which you claimed to have written on Aug.21, 2024, along w/making the story read as if the episode just happened is not only misleading, it’s the prime example of Yellow Journalism!
Jack Morgan, the article’s author and founder of “Grits & Gear, already knows this but I can guarantee 99.99% of readers have no clue he regurgitated a story that took place in Dec. 2022 (nearly Two (2) years ago!!!
Put simply, Morgan/G&G are an absolutely pathetic, misrepresenting, misleading excuse for a “news” site! It’s blatantly obvious Morgan’s one and only mission is to push the absolute far right narrative using the “truth be damned” method for which MAGA and its founder are famous!
Obviously Morgan knows the far right’s beliefs, politics, etc., is becoming more and more a losing/dying cause among the American public. And, as such, will go to any length (using blatant lies, misinformation, whatever) to keep the extremist views “alive.” And, thus, since Morgan and his ilk can’t use reality, truth, etc., to push their agenda will resort to trickery and illusion to make it seem as if the far right is actually “winning” the argument!!!
Not only that this is childish, pathetic and completely UnAmerican, it is extremely dangerous to the well being of society, as well as doing a disservice to this great and wonderful nation by trying to make it go backwards. To the 1950s? 1850s? The Dark Ages? Whatever the date, just remember the past wasn’t all roses and blue skies!
There’s a million more things to be said but let’s see if Jack Morgan or anyone else has the guts (and conscience) to give an honest, respectful reply and not just a bunch of name calling. I doubt either one will happen but I’ll keep the proverbial door open.
Timothy
August 27, 2024 at 9:15 pm
the “Karen” illness is taking over Amerika. IT is a result of the unGREATful SOCIETY that LBJ started after the MIC murdered JFK in Dallas. That was NEVER referred to as an insurrection, but it was. Now, uppity sheeople are throwing fits, ever where. chill out, don’t act like yankees either (killing people)
Robin Tillett
August 28, 2024 at 11:01 am
Sounds to me like they were off of their meds…..
Randy Vick
August 28, 2024 at 2:58 pm
That’s right, pick up a gun, be weak, puckish. Put up your fist if you are a REAL person.
RobertC
September 4, 2024 at 10:09 pm
Matthew, if this journalism was the work of a far-right lunatic, they sure have a strange way of furthering their conservative agenda. If anything, this article is a thinly veiled attempt at promoting gun control, as are a number of other articles that I’ve read here. I agree that taking a two-year old incident, or even a two-month old incident, and attempting to pass it off as “breaking news” is a lazy and disgusting way at getting views, but attempting to portray this as the typical work of the right is ridiculous. Your insinuating that a return to the values of the ‘50s, or before, would be a regression is laughable – the world has never been as completely evil and disfunctional as it is today. That’s due 100% to the efforts of the “progressives”, who have their roots in the ‘60s, with the primary goal of throwing out literally every value from their parents’ generation as a way to move forward. The world we’re living in today is a direct result of this boomer influence – they’re the primary policy makers in governments worldwide. The past may not have been all blue skies, but at least some blue was visible on occasion. That’s a damn far cry from the world we’re living in today.