NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — A quiet Bradford County neighborhood was shattered early Monday morning after the sheriff’s office says a woman shot her boyfriend. A domestic dispute ended in a fatal shooting, leaving a local man dead and his girlfriend in police custody.
Stephanie Michelle Johnson, 42, was arrested at the scene after admitting to investigators that she shot and killed her boyfriend, 41-year-old David James Wroblewski.
READ: Woman in custody after live-in boyfriend shot to death in Starke
According to Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith, the emergency call was initially made to Columbia County by Johnson’s older child. The child, who was working away from the home, received a phone call from a sibling stating that their mother had just come out and said she shot Wroblewski. The call was immediately transferred to Bradford County dispatchers around 5:30 a.m.
When deputies arrived at the residence on Meadows Drive, they encountered Johnson outside. Officials confirmed she was cooperative, non-combative, and was immediately detained after uttering something to police. While authorities recovered the weapon used in the incident, they declined to reveal its specific location at the time of the arrest. In a social media post, they say Johnson uttered to police, “it’s me, and we have been fighting for the last days.”
Inside the home, deputies discovered Wroblewski deceased in the master bedroom; they attempted live saving measure. They say he had a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Investigators state the crime scene appears entirely confined to the master bedroom.
“She has been cooperative, I can tell you that,” Sheriff Smith said. “She has admitted to doing the shooting. We going to get to the cause of it.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is currently processing the scene. Investigators will review home surveillance footage and await a full autopsy from the medical examiner’s office.
The sudden violence has left the tight-knit, working-class community in shock. Neighbors described the area as a peaceful neighborhood where children regularly play together. Residents and authorities noted there was no history of law enforcement responding to the home for domestic disputes.
“Oh boy, I feel sad, and it’s, it’s just sad. Something like that even could get to that point for somebody to end somebody life. You know, it was other ways to work things out, but I don’t know what they were going through,” said one neighbor.
“I saw them; they were together as a group and happy and smiling, and this is really shocking,” one neighbor stated. “Just like normal people, normal neighbors. You wouldn’t have known anything was going on out of the ordinary,” said one neighbor.
Sheriff Smith emphasized that the community is in no danger and characterized the shooting as an isolated domestic violence incident. He stated that the agency’s immediate priority was the well-being of the two teenagers and the younger child who live in the home.
Because the children were outside in their early-morning clothing when police arrived, a victim advocate was brought in to safely retrieve garments from the home without compromising the active crime scene. Law enforcement is currently working to place the children into the custody of loving family members.
“Evil showed up, and we’re here addressing it,” Smith said. “Our first concern is the well-being of the kids involved.
Following the tragedy, Sheriff Smith issued a direct plea to anyone currently trapped in an abusive or unsafe relationship, emphasizing that emotional and verbal abuse are just as damaging as physical violence.
“Don’t wait till something reaches this point, that we have tragedy, then it’s too late,” Smith urged. “Words can hurt just as bad as someone putting their hands on you. And if they’re doing that now, it’s not going to get better. Seek help, reach out. No one should have to live in fear in their home.”
Johnson remains in custody as the investigation continues
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