A 62-year-old man was taken into custody and flown to a hospital after a two-hour hostage standoff, authorities said.
PORT ST. LUCIE, FL — Two men were fatally shot in a Port St. Lucie neighborhood on Monday afternoon, and a 62-year-old neighbor was hospitalized after a hostage standoff that lasted about two and a half hours, police said. Officers responded around midafternoon to the Tropical East community off U.S. 1 and later secured the suspect.
Police said the shootings grew out of an ongoing dispute among neighbors, turning a quiet residential block into an emergency scene that drew SWAT, crisis negotiators and drones. Authorities said the suspect was found with a gunshot wound to the chest and was airlifted for treatment. The two victims were discovered separately, one in his house and one in a garage, according to police. Investigators were working Monday night to notify relatives and process three separate crime scenes. No officers or bystanders were reported injured, and officials emphasized that the broader community remained secure once the standoff ended.
Officers were first dispatched at about 3:15 p.m. Monday to reports of shots fired in the 2700 block of SE Tropical East Circle. When they arrived, police found one man mortally wounded inside a residence and another fatally wounded in a nearby garage. As officers canvassed the area and ordered residents to shelter in place, the suspected gunman ran into a third home and took a woman hostage, authorities said. Crisis negotiators began speaking with the man, identified by police as 62-year-old Paul Maraio of Port St. Lucie. About an hour into negotiations, the woman was released unharmed. “It was chaotic,” Police Chief Leo Niemczyk said, describing neighbors outside and officers moving to contain the streets while they searched for the suspect and protected residents.
Negotiations continued with Maraio barricaded and reportedly armed inside the third home. Police said the man later told negotiators he had shot himself. An interior drone was flown in to confirm his location and condition, and officers then moved in, found him injured with a chest wound and took him into custody. He was flown to a hospital and remained alive late Monday, police said. The chief said if the suspect survives, detectives will seek multiple charges, including two counts of homicide. The victims’ names were not released Monday night. Investigators did not immediately detail what prompted the dispute, how many shots were fired, or the type of firearm recovered, and they did not report any additional suspects.
The Tropical East community sits just east of U.S. 1 and a short drive from Mariposa Elementary School. Officials said the school was not involved, but 14 children in aftercare were kept inside while police worked the scene and released them when the area was deemed safe. Throughout the afternoon, officers blocked traffic into the neighborhood as tactical teams staged on nearby streets and neighbors watched from doorways and windows. Residents were instructed to stay inside unless contacted directly by officers, and those already on the roads were diverted around the block while investigators documented evidence at each address.
Chief Niemczyk said the dispute among neighbors had been ongoing, though detectives were still piecing together the timeline that led to Monday’s violence. Police described three distinct locations under investigation: the two homes where the victims were found and the residence where the hostage standoff unfolded. The department’s crime scene unit photographed and collected evidence at each location Monday evening while canvassing for surveillance video and interviewing witnesses. Detectives also planned to review 911 recordings and body-camera footage from officers who responded in the first minutes after gunfire was reported.
As of late Monday, police had not released the ages of the two men killed, pending family notifications and autopsies. The woman taken hostage was evaluated and appeared physically unharmed, according to officials at the scene. No officers fired their weapons during the entry to retrieve the suspect, police said. Investigators provided no immediate estimate on when they would complete processing the homes or allow residents to fully reenter blocked areas, noting that the complexity of three scenes would keep teams there into the night.
If doctors clear the suspect for booking, detectives expect to present the case to prosecutors for formal charges. Police said results from the medical examiner, including the manner and cause of the two deaths, will be part of the case file. Authorities plan to release the victims’ identities once next of kin are notified. The department said it will share updated information on Tuesday, including any additional evidence collected overnight and a clearer timeline of the 3 p.m. hour when the first emergency calls came in.
By dusk, the cul-de-sac remained taped off, with patrol cars idling and crime scene vans parked nose to nose along SE Tropical East Circle. A handful of neighbors spoke quietly and traded theories about what ignited the dispute, while officers guided residents to and from their homes. “About an hour in, he released the hostage,” Niemczyk said, adding that negotiators kept talking as tactical teams held their positions. Nearby, a school-zone sign flickered as commuters detoured around the block and the drone unit loaded up gear cases under streetlights.
Police said the suspect remained hospitalized late Monday and that detectives would resume interviews and scene work early Tuesday. The next expected update includes the victims’ names and any preliminary charges if the suspect is medically cleared.
Author note: Last updated November 11, 2025.