Two dead in apparent murder-suicide
Friends, neighbors of Tequesta-area couple say they’re shocked.
Two people died after an apparent murder-suicide that took place in a quiet Martin County neighborhood Friday night, authorities say.
At about 9 p.m. Friday, police received a call from a woman in a home on Southeast Merritt Way, located in an unincorporated section just north of the Jupiter border. The caller said her husband had a gun, and while she was still on the phone, the 911 operator heard gunshots, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said.
Police arrived soon after and found a male and a female with gunshot wounds in “grave condition,” Snyder said.
Officers performed CPR on both people, who were transported to the hospital. Both victims later died, according to Martin County Police spokeswoman Christine Weiss.
The deceased were identified by authorities on Saturday as
Claudia Le Poullouin, 53, and Paul Le Poullouin, 61.
Sam Talluto, a neighbor who lives on Southeast Merritt Way, didn’t hear gunshots late Friday night, just the roaring sirens and the police cars driving up and down his street.
He walked outside to see what happened. The next morning, he found out: There was a shooting at his neighbor’s house, and his friends of nearly 20 years had died.
“I’m pretty much in shock. How can you not be?” Talluto said.
Talluto said he had known the Le Poullouins for 18 years. Talluto said he talked with Paul several times a week, often playing golf with him during the day and having drinks with him at night. He said Paul was an American Airlines pilot who owned several handguns.
Mark Smith, who also lives on Southeast Merritt Way, said he first heard about the shooting Saturday morning.
Smith said he used to golf with Paul and go on afternoon walks with Claudia, both of whom he had known for 15 years. The couple had just renovated their home, Smith said — they had built a new sea wall, redone their garage and installed new flooring.
Smith said Paul was a “great guy” and Claudia was a “beautiful person.” Talluto said Claudia was “friendly as ever.” Both Smith and Talluto said they never saw any sign of trouble between the couple.
“I’ve never seen an escalation from a conversation (they had),” Talluto said, “that would cause somebody to jump off the deep end like that. I didn’t know of any issues between (Paul) and his wife.”
Standing in the Le Poullouins’ driveway Saturday morning, Smith looked down and shook his head. He said there is hardly ever any crime on this street — a quiet road with large houses, expensive cars, well-kept lawns and neighbors who all know each other by their first names.
“I never would have thought this would happen in a million years,” Smith said. “It’s unexplainable. Who knows what works in the minds and hearts of people sometimes?”
This was at least the third murder-suicide in the Palm Beach-Martin-St. Lucie County area since the beginning of March.
In those previous incidents, a 55-year-old man killed himself on March 7 in Port St. Lucie after shooting a man who was dating his estranged wife, and on March 25, a 44-year-old man shot and killed his wife, her sister and then himself at their home in Delray Beach while four children, ranging in age from 5 to 14, were inside the house.