Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper provides an update on a murder-suicide in Hilliard that left three women dead. | Nassau County Sheriff's Office
Published on July 25, 2025 at 1:38 pm
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Nassau County deputies discovered a grisly scene Thursday night at a home in Hilliard, after a blood-splattered little girl went to neighbors to report a shooting.
What they found was three women dead and a man dying next to an assault-style rifle in the home on West 12th Avenue.
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The gunmen, Christopher Bobby Rowell, 34, and three women were related, but Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper did not say how. He also did not identify the women as the investigation continues.
Leeper said the apparent murder-suicide was “sad; its tragic; its heartbreaking and was totally, totally unnecessary.” But if there is one positive, he said, it’s that the 5-year-old girl survived after one of the women shoved her into a bathroom for safety.
“The child said she was in the back of the house, heard a gunshot,” Leeper said in a Friday news conference. “She came down the hallway, saw a female on the floor in the living room/dining room area — another female grabbed her and put her in the bathroom. When that individual was shot, she got blood splattered on her.”
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The little girl, who is in shock, is being cared for by relatives, Leeper said.
According to a police report, a deputy went to Rowell’s home about 8 p.m. Thursday after the girl had gone to a neighbor’s house to report the shooting. They found the front door unlocked and walked in to find one woman’s body on the floor between the living room and dining room, in a pool of blood.
Rowell also was found in the living/dining room area with an assault rifle next to him. A second woman was discovered in a hallway bathroom, dead from head injuries. The third woman was found shot to death in a bedroom nearby, Leeper said.
Deputies found that the man was still alive, and he was airlifted to UF Health Jacksonville.
“It appears the shooter first shot the female in the living room area, then shot the female in the bathroom, then shot the female in the bedrooms,” Leeper said. “He eventually returned to the living room, where he shot himself in the head.”
The sheriff said Rowell remains in critical condition on life support at a hospital.
Leeper said that there had been no previous domestic incidents at the home.
Other weapons, including clips loaded with bullets, were found in the home, he said.
