Police said the suspected gunman, the estranged husband of one victim, remained at large Wednesday after a search shifted from downtown Vero Beach to the ocean off South Beach Park.
VERO BEACH, Fla. — Two Indian River County employees were shot to death outside the county’s main library early Tuesday, and police said Wednesday that the suspected gunman, the estranged husband of one victim, was still missing after witnesses reported seeing him enter the ocean.
Authorities said the killings unfolded just after 7 a.m. March 24 in the north parking lot of the Indian River County Main Library at 1600 21st St. Police identified the dead as Danny Ooley, 56, the county’s assistant director of public works, and Stacie Ellis Mason, 49, a traffic analyst technician. Chief David Currey said investigators believe the shooting was targeted and tied to the breakup of Mason’s marriage and her relationship with Ooley. The case now rests in an in-between stage: police say they know who carried out the attack, but they had not found Jesse Scott Ellis, 64, by Wednesday night and had not filed criminal charges because he was not in custody.
At a Wednesday briefing, Currey said surveillance video from the library helped detectives piece together the final minutes before the gunfire. Ooley drove a black Ford Ranger into the lot, the chief said. A short time later, Mason arrived in a black Volkswagen Atlas, got out, walked to Ooley’s truck and climbed into the passenger seat. Ellis, who police said parked nearby on a street rather than in the lot, then approached the driver’s side carrying a long gun that officers described as similar to an AR-15. Currey said Ellis fired multiple shots into the truck, striking Ooley in the driver’s seat. The chief said Ellis then moved to the passenger side and shot Mason several times. When she fell from the truck, Currey said, the gunman fired again. Officers later recovered the weapon and shell casings at the scene, a sign investigators say points to a swift, direct attack rather than a chaotic exchange.
Police said officers were dispatched at 7:01 a.m. after reports of gunfire and arrived to find both victims dead at the scene. Currey said investigators believe the library parking lot was a place where Mason and Ooley had met before and that Ellis knew they would be there that morning. He described the shooting as “a targeted, marital issue that went terribly, terribly wrong,” and said detectives do not believe there is a broader threat to the public. Still, much of the motive picture remains based on what police say they have learned, not on allegations tested in court. Currey said Mason and Ellis had been married for 13 years and were in the process of separating or divorcing while discussing the sale of their home. He also said detectives believe Mason and Ooley had been seeing each other for at least several weeks. Ooley, Currey added, was also married. Police have not said whether there had been prior threats, a protective order or earlier domestic violence reports connected to the couple.
The search for Ellis widened quickly after the shooting. Police said he fled in a dark gray 2022 Ford F-150 and drove east to South Beach Park. A woman walking near the water called 911 at 7:58 a.m. after seeing what Currey described as a tall, older man enter the ocean fully clothed. Fire rescue crews were then sent around 8:30 a.m. on what was initially treated as a welfare call, not a homicide search. Assistant Fire Chief Steve Greer said crews found the man offshore, spoke with him from a boat and offered help, but he did not appear to be in distress. Greer said the man gave a false name, said he was fine and refused assistance. Currey later said investigators concluded the swimmer was Ellis. Police said he was seen as far as about 900 yards offshore. By about 12:45 p.m., officers found Ellis’ truck abandoned at South Beach Park, prompting a broader search using drones, dogs, boats and officers along nearby beaches and in the water.
That unusual sequence has left investigators with major unanswered questions. Currey said police do not yet know whether Ellis drowned, made it back to shore somewhere else or remains in hiding. “That’s a good question,” the chief said when asked where he thinks the suspect is now. He called the case a “very, very active investigation.” Search warrants have already been executed on Ellis’ truck, the victims’ vehicles and a residence tied to him, according to police. Investigators said they recovered multiple firearms and digital evidence, including cellphones, and are still working through forensic analysis. Officers are also seeking surveillance footage from the South Beach area that might show whether Ellis came out of the water or was picked up elsewhere. The absence of a body, an arrest or a sworn court filing means the public still does not have the kind of formal probable-cause record that usually follows a double-homicide case within a day or two.
The killings hit county government hard because both victims were longtime public employees in a department residents encounter through road work, traffic planning and daily infrastructure projects. County officials said Ooley had worked for Indian River County for nearly 25 years, rising from maintenance worker to assistant director of public works. Mason had worked for the county since 2014 and most recently served as a traffic analyst technician. In a statement after families were notified, Chairman Deryl Loar and County Administrator John A. Titkanich Jr. said, “The reality of this loss is profound,” adding that both employees had been dedicated public servants. Titkanich later said Ooley had moved up through the ranks through experience and leadership, while Mason was known for professionalism and a positive presence at work. The county made grief counseling and support services available to employees, underscoring how the case reached far beyond one parking lot and into the routines of county offices that lost two longtime colleagues in a single morning.
The setting also added to the shock. The shooting happened outside a public library near downtown Vero Beach and across from First Baptist Church Preschool, which local reporting said was closed at the time. Residents nearby said the sound of the attack carried across the neighborhood. Matt Mulholland, who lives across from the library, told local television crews he woke up to “5 to 10 gunshots, maybe more,” describing the violence as frightening in a place usually tied to errands and government buildings rather than emergency tape and homicide investigators. On the barrier island, beachgoer Carol Hughes told WPTV she later realized a distant swimmer she noticed at sunrise may have been the man police were searching for and sent a photo to investigators. Those two accounts, one from downtown and one from the beach, capture how the case spread across Vero Beach in just a few hours, turning one targeted shooting into a citywide search that moved from pavement to shoreline to open water.
No arrest had been announced as of Wednesday night, and police had not released any charging documents because Ellis had not been taken into custody. The next public steps are likely to come when officers either find him, recover more evidence that clarifies his path after South Beach Park, or file formal court papers laying out the case in greater detail.
Author note: Last updated March 25, 2026.