Dad says son "definitely did not commit suicide"
"My friend shot himself. We think he's dead. He shot himself."
Those were the words of a frantic woman who called 911 on September 13 from a home in Holly Hill, Fla., where Timothy Englehardt, a 22-year-old aspiring meteorologist, was later pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.
"We know our son and he definitely would not have committed suicide," Bill Englehardt, Timothy's father, told 48 Hours' Crimesider Thursday. "There is no doubt in our minds."
Bill Englehardt says his son, who was a senior at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, had spoken with his grandmother 40 minutes before the shooting and asked her to buy him a plane ticket so he could come home to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving.
"He was very excited. He wanted to surprise us," Bill Englehardt says.
It was shortly after that phone call to his grandmother, Bill says, that things went very wrong.
According to an incident report from the Holly Hill Police Department, authorities received a phone call at around 6:15 that night reporting "an attempted suicide and a gun shot fired."
In a recording of the 911 call, a female is heard telling the emergency operator how her friend shot himself and that he was on the front porch of the house. A frantic male is heard in the background screaming at times.
"My friend is upset because he feels responsible for it," the female told the operator.
"It is his gun," she said.
The male is then heard in the background saying something inaudible.
"No you didn't, you didn't kill him," the female responded.
When the 911 operator asked the female caller what the victim was doing prior to the shooting, she responded, "He was stressed. We tried to talk him through stuff that he had. He was very stressed about everything."
"We didn't think the gun was loaded. We didn't think he was serious. He wanted to hold the gun. We didn't think he was going to do that."
When asked whether she thought the shooting was accidental, the female caller responded, "I very much think it was an accident. I think that he was just not thinking. None of us realized there was... a round in the chamber."
The police incident report says Timothy Englehardt was found dead on the front porch of the home with a firearm nowhere within his reach.
Holly Hill Police Chief Steve Aldridge told Crimesider the gun was found inside the home.
Four people, not including Timothy Englehardt, were at the home at the time of the shooting.
According to police, one of them, Stefanie Lauber, told police she was on the porch at the time of the shooting and witnessed what occurred. The incident report says Lauber told police she and Timothy had seen her boyfriend, Jacob Eldred, remove the magazine prior to the shooting. She said she thought the gun was not loaded when Timothy put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
She went on to tell police that Timothy had been "upset" and was making "suicidal statements." She then said she believed the shooting was an accident as the weapon was supposed to be unloaded.
Bill Englehardt says he has not spoken with any of the individuals who were present at the home when his son died.
"I don't really want anything to do with them," he says.
Bill says he believes his son was shot by another individual by accident, but he says his wife has a different opinion and believes her son was purposely murdered. He says he has faith that authorities will be able to determine what really happened and ensure justice is served.
Police Chief Aldridge says authorities are "awaiting some final forensic evidence processing" before they make a final determination on what occurred.
"I feel it was an accidental shooting but to me, murder is still murder," Bill told Crimesider. "I just want Timothy to rest in heaven knowing that his parents believe that he did not do this and there will be a resolution to the mystery surrounding his death."
