Two die in Seminole workplace shooting (1-30-04)

By Vickie Chachere (AP)

SEMINOLE - The longtime boyfriend of a recently fired real-estate partner walked into her old office and opened fire Thursday, killing one person and wounding another before killing himself, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff's spokesman Tim Goodman said James A. Webb, 56, of Largo, fired four or five shots inside ERA Professional Realtors on Seminole Boulevard at about 2:40 p.m.

Tracey Eugene Sells, 42, a partner in the office, was killed. A woman was wounded and taken to Bayfront Medical Center in nearby St. Petersburg, where she was in stable condition, Goodman said. She was not publicly identified.

Webb was dead inside the business when deputies stormed the building, located in a strip mall along a busy thoroughfare, Goodman said.

Webb and Zelma Kougle lived together for the past 20 years. Kougle had been a partner in the business until 2½ years ago, when she was bought out. She continued to work there until the other partners recently decided that she would be fired, Goodman said.

Webb had been unemployed for the past five years and had some health problems, Goodman said. He didn't know what those health problems were.

Goodman said Webb entered the real estate office and told three people there to "get out." He then went into the office where Sells and the woman were working. He got into an argument with them and then shot them both, Goodman said.