Ocala, Florida

From the Ocala Star-Banner of March 20, 2005

Police: Shooting was possibly self-defense

Officers were called to family's house before

A 38-year-old man was shot and killed late Friday after his wife reportedly shot him to protect herself.

Timothy Shane Roberts, 38, was shot once in the chest by his wife Paula Kathryn Roberts, 35, during a physical altercation, said Marion County Sheriff's Office officials. Paramedics were dispatched to the home, 22 Hemlock Terrace Drive, at 10:09 p.m.

When deputies arrived, they found the man's wife kneeling next to him.

"The argument pretty much started with the daughter," said Sue Livoti, sheriff's office public information officer. When the man's wife got involved, the physical fight turned deadly.

The physical altercation began early Friday, according to Paula Roberts' account to police.

The couple spent Friday evening with their three children at the Ocala Shrine Club Carnival just a couple of miles away from their home. After they left, Timothy Roberts began to argue with his 16-year-old daughter, Kathryn.

Once at the home, he is said to have begun hitting his daughter. After his wife got involved, he began to attack her.

"The mother went into the bedroom and told him if he hit her again she would shoot him," Livoti said. "And he supposedly told her, 'You don't have the nerve.'

"He moved as if to strike her again and she fired one time, hitting him in the chest. The children ran to a neighbor's house and called 911," Livoti said in an earlier written press release.

Paula Roberts has not been charged in the homicide.

Family members told investigators that domestic violence was prevalent in the household.
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The case was investigated as a homicide, but Bibb said it looks as if the shooting was in self-defense.

An autopsy was scheduled for the husband on Saturday. The State Attorney's Office is expected to review the case this week.

No subsequent stories about this incident were found.