Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/305631
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office has arrested the woman responsible for a shooting two weeks ago at a home across from Riverview High School, the office has announced. Deputies were called to a house on Lords Avenue in Sarasota around 1:30 p.m. on April 16 after a neighbor reported a lengthy dis- turbance had escalated to shots being fired, a news release says. Responding deputies found Jeffrey Bell had been wounded in the leg, the release adds. He was transported to the hospital, where he was treated for his injury and released. Also at the home was his wife, Lauren Bell, along with another man and a 7-year-old child, the release continues. During the inves- tigation, detectives learned that Lauren shot Jeffrey during a domestic dispute when the child was standing nearby, the release says. Lauren Bell told detectives she did not mean to shoot Jeffrey Bell, according to the report. The Bells have been married for five years, the report adds, though they have been a cou- ple for 10 years. Jeffrey had gone to pick up the child from school, the report says. When he returned home, he expected that Lauren and the other man were still inside the house. He started knocking on the door and banging on the win- dows to get them to open the door, the report says. However, Lauren told him to leave "because she wanted the house to herself," the report adds. Lauren then threatened to call law enforce- ment officers if he did not go away, the report continues. When Lauren came to the door a second time, she was armed with the handgun, which she pointed at Jeffrey, according to the report. He told her to shoot him if that was what she planned to do, the report says. The gun went off as she lowered it, the report continues. When detectives interviewed the other man in the house, he told them he was in the mas- ter bedroom the entire time of the incident and that he was "hanging out" with the Bells the previous night, according to the report. WOMAN ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING NEAR RIVERVIEW HIGH SCHOOL Lauren Bell/Contributed photo Sarasota News Leader May 2, 2014 Page 83