PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — A newly released 911 call captures the frantic moments after a woman was shot outside a Port St. Lucie home in a murder-suicide that killed a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office communications officer.
A neighbor called 911 shortly after 7:40 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1, after hearing a burst of gunfire near Southeast Oxmoor Terrace.
“I think my neighbor was shot,” the caller told a dispatcher. “She’s in her front yard.”
The woman said she had been outside with her children when the shots rang out.
“We heard it a couple minutes ago, and I made my kids come inside because they sounded really, really close,” she said. “My 4-year-old went in his sister’s room and he looked out the window. He said, ‘Mommy, the neighbor’s on the floor.’”
The caller said she initially wondered whether the noise had come from fireworks, which she said were frequently set off in the neighborhood.
“But this one, like, made my house rattle,” she said. “She is not moving.”
When the dispatcher asked whether she had gone outside to check on the woman, the caller said she was too frightened.
“I’m not moving,” she said. “I’m scared to go over there.”
The caller reported hearing approximately five or six shots. She said she did not see a gun or anyone standing near the woman.
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“There’s no one outside,” she said. “She’s very visible. She’s in her pajamas.”
The caller also told the dispatcher that the woman and her husband frequently argued.
“They’re just always cursing at each other,” she said. “They’re always yelling.”
The woman remained inside as dispatchers sent police and fire-rescue crews to the neighborhood.
“She is laying on her stomach,” the caller said later in the call. “It’s just her laying in the grass.”
Police and fire-rescue units were dispatched less than a minute after the initial report. The first Port St. Lucie police officer arrived about three and a half minutes later, according to dispatch records.
As officers arrived, the caller directed them toward the injured woman.
Elizabeth “Liz” Ortega, a former Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office emergency communications officer, was fatally shot Saturday at her Port St. Lucie home. Police said her longtime partner, Ralph Varela Sr., killed her with an AR-style rifle before taking his own life. (Handout photo)
“She’s over here,” she said. “She’s right there.”
The caller then said officers instructed her to return inside.
Responding officers found Elizabeth “Liz” Ortega suffering from gunshot wounds. Police removed her from the area and brought her to waiting paramedics while other officers surrounded the home and established a perimeter.
Ortega was flown to a hospital but later died. She worked as an emergency communications officer for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said Ortega had recently ended her relationship with Ralph Varela Sr., her partner of more than 30 years. Police said surveillance video showed Varela shooting Ortega inside the home with an AR-style rifle. Ortega ran outside in an attempt to escape, but police said Varela continued firing until she collapsed in the yard.
Dispatch records show officers initially did not know where Varela was. Police surrounded the residence, warned officers to take cover and requested a drone to look inside.
At approximately 8:13 p.m., the drone operator reported seeing a man down inside the house with what appeared to be a rifle next to him. The operator later reported that the man appeared to have blood on him and was not moving.
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Specialized officers and armored equipment were brought to the neighborhood before teams entered and cleared the home. Police found Varela dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The police response lasted more than six hours as officers secured the house, garage and nearby structures before crime-scene investigators took over.