Law enforcement community shocked by suicide

After working more than 30 years as a secretary at the Criminal Justice Training Center at Florida State College, a St Johns County woman, who was set to retire at the end of the year, ended her own life Friday; to the surprise and shock of co-workers, cadet students, and detectives investigating her death.

The apparent suicide of 80-year-old Phyllis Jean Frank, who lived at 3145 Coastal Highway in Saint Augustine, occurred in the parking lot of the North Campus of the college; located at 4501 Capper Road in Jacksonville.

“She was walking to her car accompanied by one of the female recruits — they were on the way to have lunch together,” Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Melissa J. Bujeda told local reporters. “When they got to her vehicle, Frank snatched a handgun from the cadet’s purse. She turned it on herself, and then shot herself in the head.”

Frank was pronounced dead at the scene, and Bujeda says there is no known motive.