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‘That b---- shot me in the back’: Keys man’s dying words after girlfriend shoots him, deputies say

Brittany Nicole Holbrook (MCSO)

BIG COPPITT KEY, Fla. – A newly-obtained arrest report reveals more information about what deputies say took place after a Big Coppitt Key woman allegedly fatally shot her boyfriend of nine months in the back over the weekend.

Deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrested Brittany Nicole Holbrook, 33, Saturday on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Tyler Nulisch.

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According to the MCSO report, deputies responded to their home in the 400 block of Avenue F at 2:50 a.m. after the couple’s roommate called 911 to report that Nulisch, 30, had been shot and was “in bad shape.”

“He’s hurt real bad,” the roommate told the dispatcher.

Deputies said their roommate is heard on a 911 call recording asking Holbrook where he was bleeding from, to which she said from his back.

The report states that the roommate “was in his bedroom sleeping when he heard the girlfriend (Holbrook) scream. On the 911 call, (the roommate) told dispatchers the victim (Nulisch) and his girlfriend (Holbrook) were in an argument.”

According to the report, deputies arrived roughly four minutes after the 911 call to find Holbrook “cradling the victim covered in blood on the ground in the living area of the second story” of the home, unconscious, but breathing. He was later taken to Lower Keys Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Deputies said they found a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun in the living room.

The couple’s roommate later told deputies that he had been awoken by Holbrook screaming and exited his bedroom to find Nulisch lying on the floor of the living room and bleeding, the report states.

The roommate told deputies that he “tried to ask Nulisch what happened and Nulisch replied ‘that b---- shot me in the back,’ referring to the girlfriend Brittany Holbrook,” deputies wrote. “Holbrook had no reaction after Nulisch made that statement.”

According to the report, Holbrook spoke to deputies and described what she said happened the previous night after she returned home from work.

“The group was drinking alcoholic beverages under the stilted house. Holbrook consumed several alcoholic seltzers and several beers,” the report states. “Late in the evening, Holbrook decided to go to bed and was followed by Nulisch, both of whom fell asleep in their bed. Holbrook stated there was a gap in her memory. The next thing she remembered she was in the living room holding Nulisch who was covered in blood.”

Holbrook claimed Nulisch didn’t say anything while he was lying on the floor, bleeding out, authorities said.

She later claimed Nulisch had been attacking her, the report states.

“She stated she remembers Nulisch leaving the bed and walking to the bathroom. When he returned from the bathroom, he was like a different person and began to attack her,” deputies wrote. “While she was being held against the wall, she described Nulisch squeezing her throat with his hands hard enough that it restricted her breathing.”

Deputies said evidence didn’t bear that out.

“No marks of any kind were observed around her throat,” the investigating deputy wrote. “No (petechiae) were observed in either of her eyes. (Holbrook) stated she punched and scratched Nulisch. Bruising on several knuckles on her right hand were observed.”

Holbrook “believed Nulisch was attempting to kill her. She continued to claim there was a gap in her memory and she did not remember how she was able to get away from Nulisch,” the report states.

The investigating deputy wrote that based on the roommate’s statement, Nulisch’s “dying (declaration),” inconsistencies in Holbrook’s statement and the lack of injuries consistent with strangulation, there was enough probable cause to arrest her for murder.

Holbrook was being held in the Monroe County Jail on a $750,000 bond as of Tuesday morning, jail records show. She was scheduled to be arraigned June 28.


About the Author
Chris Gothner headshot

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.

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