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Deputies: Former GOP staffer shot 13 times in bed; suspect had blood on hands and feet

David Harris, Orlando Sentinel staff portrait in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, July 19, 2022. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
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Osceola County Sheriff’s deputies say a former GOP staffer and Disney employee was shot 13 times while he was sleeping in bed.

Nick Corvino, 30, had gunshot wounds to his back, head and legs, according to an arrest affidavit.

His roommate, Scott Waddell, 45, is at the Osceola County Jail on a first-degree murder charge.

According to the report, deputies were responding to an alarm around 11 a.m. Tuesday at an apartment in the 3100 block of Britannia Boulevard, which is in the Four Corners area.

When deputies knocked on the door, Waddell answered, wearing a T-shirt and boxers and had blood on his hands and feet, according to the affadavit.

Deputies detained Waddell and found Corvino lying in bed in a back bedroom with several gunshot wounds.

Corvino was pronounced dead at the scene.

There were several cameras inside the apartment which captured what led up to the shooting, deputies wrote.

Shortly after 11 a.m., the video shows Waddell getting out of bed and reaching for the nightstand. Deputies believe the fired shots set off the alarms, which turn on the cameras.

Waddell is seen moving Corvino’s body to the side of the bed and staring at him for several minutes, deputies say. The shooting was not captured on video.

Waddell was taken to the sheriff’s office where he was “very cooperative and eager to talk,” deputies wrote. He told deputies he and Corvino were hanging out in the apartment drinking beer and watching TV the night before.

In the report, Waddell also said he was “mentally disabled” and took several medications and took them before going to bed. He said he woke up “scared and being in Nicholas’ room where he saw Nicholas covered in blood with a gun lying next to him,” deputies wrote.

According to deputies, Waddell said he owns two guns — a shotgun he kept on the wall and a 9mm handgun he kept in the bed stand.

He told deputies he didn’t remember shooting Corvino and was surprised to be talking to them, the report said.

During the interview he kept asking if Corvino was dead, according to the report.

Waddell said he sometimes has homicidal thoughts about killing young men, but has never acted on them.

He said he’s been taking the same medications for a year and said he thought they were working. The report did not say what medications he was on.

Waddell said he and Corvino were “best friends for 10 years.”

Nick Corvino
Nick Corvino

Corvino worked at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, according to his Facebook page.

Before that, he was a staffer for Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, and worked on the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bondi said she was “heartbroken” about Corvino’s death and called him a “great young man.”

dharris@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5471 or @DavidHarrisOS

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