Deputies say a man trying to stop the attack shot the dog’s owner, then ran, leaving detectives to sort through a chaotic scene near a school and homeless encampment.
LEESBURG, Fla. — A woman was hospitalized with dog bites and a dog owner later died after a man trying to stop the attack opened fire Friday morning in Leesburg, deputies said, setting off a search and a lockdown at nearby Carver Middle School.
The case matters because it moved in minutes from an animal attack into a homicide investigation, with one man dead, one woman injured and the suspected gunman still not in custody as of Saturday. Lake County deputies have identified Matthew Lee Pasco, 43, as a person of interest, but they have not filed charges or publicly said how the shooting will ultimately be classified. The immediate stakes are locating Pasco, confirming the sequence of the gunfire and releasing the dead man’s identity after relatives are notified.
Deputies said the violence began around 7:30 a.m. Friday in the area of 1904 Griffin Road, near the intersection of Griffin Road and Tally Box Road, where witnesses reported that a woman was being attacked by a large dog near a homeless encampment. In a 911 call released by authorities, a caller told dispatch, “A young lady got bit by a dog,” capturing the panic at the start of the episode. Investigators say Pasco then stepped in and tried to shoot the animal. Instead, the dog’s owner moved between Pasco and the woman and was hit by the gunfire. The owner was taken from the scene to a hospital, where he later died. The woman was also taken to a hospital for treatment of several dog bites. Deputies say Pasco fled on foot almost immediately, leaving officers to secure an active crime scene while witnesses, medics and animal enforcement officers converged on the same roadside area.
Even the facts that authorities have confirmed leave major holes in the public account. Deputy Stephanie Earley, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said the attacking animals were large dogs, but officials have not publicly identified the breed, who owned each animal or whether both were directly involved in the attack on the woman. Deputies later said two dogs were shot and one was killed, and animal enforcement officers impounded dogs from the scene. Investigators have not said which dog first bit the woman, who fired the shots that struck each animal or whether the dog that started the attack survived. They also have not said whether anyone tried to separate the dog from the woman before the gun was drawn, whether Pasco and the owner knew each other well, or how close the three people were standing when the shot that killed the owner was fired. Authorities withheld the names of both victims Friday while relatives were still being notified and while medical treatment for the woman continued.
The setting helps explain why the case quickly widened beyond a single emergency call. Griffin Road runs past wooded edges and open ground near an informal homeless camp, and the scene sits across from Carver Middle School. As deputies searched for an armed man moving on foot, the school was placed on lockdown as a precaution and later dismissed after officials said the immediate danger to the campus had eased. Television video from above showed deputies and other responders spread across the roadside and tree line while emergency vehicles clustered near the scene. A nearby homeowner told local reporters the area felt tense almost immediately after the gunfire. “Just hearing the shot, you don’t know where it’s coming from,” the resident said. “It could be over here or over there.” For detectives, a setting like that can make even basic witness accounts harder to sort out, because people hear different things, see only fragments and often begin moving before officers arrive.
The legal picture is unusually unsettled because the shot was fired, according to deputies, during an apparent attempt to stop an ongoing animal attack. In many fatal shooting cases, investigators can quickly begin sorting evidence into broad categories such as self-defense, accident, manslaughter or murder. This case is harder to place so early because the man deputies want to question has not been found and has not publicly described what he believed he was seeing or intending when he fired. Detectives will need to match witness statements against physical evidence, including the location of shell casings, the bullet path, medical findings and the owner’s autopsy. They will also need to determine whether the owner stepped in front of the muzzle in an effort to shield the woman, protect the dog, calm the chaos or do something else entirely. Until Pasco is found and questioned, much of the case remains a reconstruction built from witness fragments, scene evidence and what officers heard in the 911 calls.
Authorities have released a detailed description of Pasco but little else about what might come next on the criminal side. Deputies say he is 5 feet 11 inches tall, about 150 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes and a prominent scar on the right side of his face. He was last seen wearing a navy blue T-shirt. Earley said Pasco is believed to be homeless, known to frequent the Leesburg area and still armed with a handgun. As of Saturday, deputies were continuing to describe him as a person of interest rather than announcing a formal charge. That distinction matters, because it signals that investigators are still in the evidence-gathering phase and have not yet publicly committed to a specific criminal theory. Before prosecutors can move forward, detectives still have to find Pasco, interview him, finish the forensic work on the shooting and clarify basic unanswered questions about the dogs, the woman’s injuries and the final seconds before the trigger was pulled.
There are also several official steps still ahead before the public picture becomes clearer. Detectives are expected to complete a fuller timeline through interviews with the dog bite victim, nearby witnesses and first responders who arrived after the shooting. The dead man’s name is likely to be released only after relatives are fully notified and the medical examiner’s work is underway. Ballistics testing may help establish how many shots were fired and which rounds struck the man and the dogs. Animal control findings may also matter, especially if investigators need to determine which dog bit the woman, whether the animals were restrained before the attack and whether either dog had a documented history that could help explain what happened. None of that changes the broad outline deputies have already given, but it will shape how the death is officially classified and whether Pasco ultimately faces charges tied only to the shooting, to fleeing the scene, or to some combination of acts.
By late Friday and into Saturday, the scene had narrowed from open chaos to a grim set of known facts. One man was dead. One woman was recovering from dog bites. One dog had been killed, another had been taken by authorities and the man deputies want to question was still missing. Yet the emotional texture of the morning lingered in the bits of audio and witness recollection that surfaced afterward. The 911 caller’s brief description captured the first emergency, not the second. The nearby homeowner’s account captured the confusion after the gunfire, when parents, neighbors and school staff still did not know where the danger had come from or whether it had ended. That mix of public fear and investigative uncertainty is why the case remained urgent even after the victims had been taken away. For people in the area, the story did not end when the ambulance left. It shifted into a search.
By Saturday, the outline was clear but many details were not: a dog attack, a fatal shot, a wounded woman and a manhunt still underway. The next public milestone is Pasco’s capture or surrender, followed by a fuller account from detectives and the release of the dead man’s name.
Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.