The suspect in Tuesday’s shooting incident at the VA Outpatient Clinic in The Villages appears to have gone through personal upheaval in the past few weeks.
The suspect has been identified as 60-year-old Stephen Cometa of The Villages. He was booked at the Marion County Jail and is to be picked up by U.S. Marshals.
On his Facebook page, Cometa indicated he is from Rochester, N.Y. and attended West Irondequoit High School.
He and his wife had been granted a divorce Dec. 1 in Marion County Court. The couple had lived in a home on Bellhaven Loop in the Village of Chatham. It is unclear which of them kept the house.
Prior to that, it appears he had lost a beloved pet.
“My cat Roxy went over the rainbow bridge Monday 11/7/16, after 20 years of companionship, till i see you again,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
At about 2 a.m. on the day of the shooting, he had posted a quote from Billy Graham: “My home is in heaven, I’m just traveling through this world.”
The day before on Facebook, he had made a provocative post:
“I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO OUR NATION IN DISTRESS, WHERE ILLEGAL OCCUPIERS RIGHTS CARRY MORE WEIGHT THAN OUR OWN, WHERE GOD HAS ALL BUT FORSAKEN US , AND LEFT US TOO OUR OWN, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL , WHO CAN AFFORD IT?????Written by Stephen Cometa 12/2/2016 , a VETERAN.”
On Oct. 13, 2015, Cometa sent the following email to Villages-News.com
Yes guns fire bullets, Who is operating firings mechanism?
How do you stop illegal gun trafficking?
These questions need to be answered !
In a society where killing people that jumps back to life in video games are the normal?
Media GLORIFIES mass murders, and empathize with the cause of these criminals?
War’s are now being FOUGHT and WON in the Media , not on the battlefield?
Ware is America’s future headed ?
The military tactics that the GREATEST GENERATION used are not acceptable to the American people of today ?
YES THE EMPEROR HAS NEW CLOTHES !
Thanks.
Steve Cometa.
