Man dead in Memphis may be quad amputee sought in parents’ death

ORLANDO, Fla. – As a teenager who had survived a devastating bacterial infection that left him a quadruple amputee, Sean Petrozzino wowed those around him with his upbeat attitude.

But last week, authorities in Florida were describing the now 30-year-old Petrozzino as “armed and dangerous” and “a person of interest” following the fatal shooting of his parents in their home. On Tuesday, detectives from the sheriff’s office went to Memphis to determine if Petronizzo was the driver who managed to shoot himself to death after being pulled over by police officers during a Monday traffic stop.

Memphis police officers said they heard a “pop” sound as they exited their car, and then found the driver dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A positive identification hasn’t yet been made.

Detectives had been looking for Sean Petrozzino for the past week after the bodies of Nancy Petrozzino, 64, and Michael Petrozzino, 63, were found fatally shot inside their home. Deputies went to the home a week ago after colleagues at the school where Nancy Petrozzino taught second-grade became concerned when she didn’t show up. Michael Petrozzino worked at Walt Disney World.

Petrozzino had two prosthetic legs. A photo of Sean Petrozzino at a bank ATM on the day his parents were shot shows him without any prosthetics for his hands. The photo was released by the sheriff’s office, and an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday she didn’t have any information on whether Petrozzino used prosthetics for his hands.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel wrote an article about Sean Petrozzino and his family in 2000 after the then-high school student recovered from meningitis, which resulted in the amputation of his hands and feet. The family lived in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

It would be difficult, though not impossible, for Sean Petrozzino to fire a gun without using prosthetics, said Doug Pringle, chief operating officer of Prosthetic Consulting Services, in Nevada.

A phone number for Sean Petrozzino’s wife, Cynthia Horne Petrozzino, wasn’t accepting messages Tuesday. Public records show they had lived in the Orlando area, and most recently in Georgia.

Wells Fargo Bank initiated foreclosure proceedings against Sean Petrozzino in 2013, according to county records.

In the 2000 article, Michael Petrozzino told the newspaper that he was proud of his son’s positive attitude adjusting to his changed world.