WELLINGTON, Fla. — WPTV is learning more about the Wellington husband and wife who detectives said were gunned down by their neighbor following a dispute over a basketball hoop.
NewsChannel 5 spoke to a close friend of the victims, Taylor and Tara Jones, about the life they built with their four children who are now without their mother and father.
Ashley Newby said the couple moved with their children to Florida from the West Coast in April 2022.
For Newby, it was an exciting reunion that she said was overdue.
"I think we both cried. We cried for like the whole phone call just making plans of them being able to where they were moving to how close it was going to be to us, where the kids were going to go to school, what sports they were going to play," Newby said. "It just brought our whole life back together that we had missed for so long for her being so far away."
The friendship between Newby and the Jones family runs deep.
She said she met Tara Jones in 2003 in Florida when they both worked at Ale House. Their decades-long friendship grew from there.
"Tara knew my husband and as soon as we met Taylor he was part of the family too, so it was the four of us a lot," Newby said. "We did everything together before they moved away, so for them to come back and then meet our kids, because I have three boys, and they're close to the same age."
She described Tara Jones as a bright, nurturing soul and said she was there for her through the highs and lows of life.
That included her wedding day and most recently in January when Newby was grieving the loss of her aunt.
Wellington
Deputies: Neighbor shot couple over basketball hoop dispute
"She knew how important she was to me," Newby said. "I just needed her hug and her comfort because that's just the energy in the aura she gives off."
Newby is now grieving the loss of both Taylor and Tara in what has been described as a senseless murder.
Newby said it all hasn’t sunken in yet.
"Not at all. I actually texted her phone. I texted her phone and asked her to please just tell me this isn’t real because it feels like a nightmare," she said.
Now all she has left are memories and messages.
"I actually on a cellular level miss you guys," Newby said reading through Tara's past text message exchanges. "I said, 'I miss you too,' and that was it. I said, 'Miss you too,' and now I have to miss her forever."
Newby said she has nothing but great things to tell the Jones' four children.
"I would absolutely tell them that your parents lived their life. They lived for you and they loved life, and you have to keep that legacy going to because life is now too short."
The suspect, Norman Scott, 63, is a licensed aircraft mechanic.
He's facing charges of two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and is being held without bond.
The WPTV investigative team found that he had no criminal history before Saturday's shooting.
A GoFundMe page has been established to support the Jones family.
