As a teenager growing up in South Florida, Sean Petrozzino made headlines with his upbeat attitude after bacterial meningitis and more than a dozen surgeries ravaged his body. 
 
 Bacteria destroyed his hands, feet and parts of his limbs. 
 
 The sophomore clarinetist — a multiple amputee at 16 — touched many with his positive outlook, prompting donations of a voice-command laptop, wheelchair ramps and a specially equipped van. 
 
 On Wednesday, Petrozzino, now 30, made headlines again — this time being called a dangerous, gun-toting "person of interest" in the fatal shootings of his parents in their east Orange County home. 
 
 The bodies of Nancy Petrozzino, 64, and Michael Petrozzino, 63, were found Tuesday, prompting a search for their son and his father's missing vehicle, a red Toyota Camry with Florida license plate 112VZY. 
 
 Orange Co. couple murdered: Son named person of interest The bodies of Nancy Petrozzino, 64, and Michael Petrozzino, 63, were found Tuesday, prompting a search for their son and his father's missing vehicle, a red Toyota Camry with Florida license plate 112VZY. The bodies of Nancy Petrozzino, 64, and Michael Petrozzino, 63, were found Tuesday, prompting a search for their son and his father's missing vehicle, a red Toyota Camry with Florida license plate 112VZY. See more videos 
 
 He is only a person of interest and not a suspect, sheriff's spokeswoman Jane Watrel said at a news conference Wednesday. 
 
 "We want him to get in here and talk to us so we can find out what happened, since he was apparently living with his parents," Watrel said. 
 
 Deputies think Petrozzino may be heading to Jupiter or Coral Springs in South Florida. He's wearing prosthetic legs and lost both of his hands during his battle with meningitis. 
 
 Homicide detectives Wednesday released a surveillance photo of Petrozzino taken near a Wells Fargo ATM at an undisclosed location in Orlando on Tuesday. 
 
 "Please note for identification purposes, the physical characteristics of his hands," Watrel said in a statement, adding that no other details about the picture would be released. 
 
 Watrel said he had a gun. 
 
 Jerry L. Saunders, chief executive officer of ABC Prosthetics and Orthotics in Orlando, said handless people have the ability to fire weapons without special devices. 
 
 As authorities looked for Petrozzino, his mother-in-law, Cathleen Horne, said he recently separated from his wife in Georgia and moved in with his parents. His mother was a longtime Orange teacher, and his father was a Walt Disney World cast member. 
 
 Grief counselors have been dispatched to Nancy Petrozzino's school, Andover Elementary, less than a mile south of her home on Heming Way in the Andover Cay subdivision. 
 
 Horne said Sean Petrozzino has always seemed a calm and peaceful person. 
 
 "I've known Sean since he was 16 years old," Horne told the Sentinel. "This just seems bizarre. It seems like a bad dream." 
 
 Deputies were called to the family's home at 10:55 a.m. Tuesday after Nancy Petrozzino's school noted her absence and asked authorities to check on her. 
 
 The couple, married for 41 years, were found dead inside the home. 
 
 Nancy Petrozzino had been a second-grade teacher since 2007 at Andover Elementary School on Curry Ford Road. 
 
 She was a teacher for about 40 years, Horne said. 
 
 According to the Andover Elementary Parent Teacher Association's Facebook page, the school district provided extra security on campus. 
 
 Parents were urged to talk to their children about the incident. 
 
 "Principal [Angela] Zambaux and staff are trying to keep the day as normal as possible, to help everyone cope with the sudden loss of one who is loved and admired by all," the Facebook page said. "The wonderful memories of Mrs. Petrozzino will live on forever!!" 
 
 Records show Sean Petrozzino and his wife lived in east Orange before they moved to Georgia about a year ago. 
 
 A foreclosure notice was filed on their former residence, near Valencia College, in August. 
 
 The house is unoccupied, and signs of neglect included an insect hive by the front door, old shopping circulars strewn about and an overgrown lawn. 
 
 Primitivo Vasquez, who has lived in the house next door for 25 years, said Sean and his wife kept to themselves except when Sean took his dog out and they made small talk. 
 
 "I never had a reason to worry about him," added Vasquez. "I cannot imagine him doing something like this; I don't think he would be able to." 
 
 The house has been empty since Sean Petrozzino left last year, and Vasquez said no one has visited the house since. 
 
 Petrozzino's struggles were chronicled in a South Florida Sun Sentinel article in 2000, which described him as "perky, silly, polite and philosophical beyond his 16 years." 
 
 "Lots of important things in life just happen by chance," Petrozzino said in that interview 14 years ago this month. "You know someone and get a job that makes you millions of dollars. Or you get a disease. There doesn't seem to be any reason some things happen. 
 
 "I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me," he says. "As much as I feel bad about what happened, I feel good that my family and all my friends stood by me." 
 
 That optimism appears to have endured into adulthood. On Petrozzino's Google Plus page, an entry under "bragging rights" reads: "First quad amputee to climb Kilimanjaro. Circa 2024..." 
 
 Anyone with information about Petrozzino's whereabouts or what happened at Heming Way is asked to call Crimeline at 800-423-8477. 
 
 Staff writer Melanie Dostis contributed to this report. twalden@tribune.com or 407-420-5620 ||||| Investigators said they're searching for 30-year-old Sean Petrozzino, a quadruple amputee whose parents were found dead in an east Orange County home Tuesday. 
 
 The bodies of Nancy Petrozzino, 64, and Michael Petrozzino, 63, were found after deputies went to the house on Heming Way in the Andover Cay subdivision, south of Curry Ford Road, to do a well-being check when Nancy Petrozzino didn't show up for work, authorities said. 
 
 Their deaths have been ruled homicide s and their son, Sean Petrozzino, has been named a person of interest in the case. 
 
 "We do believe he has a firearm. He's considered dangerous and they believe he is in the south Florida area," said Jane Watrel, w ith the Orange County Sheriff's Office. 
 
 Sean Petrozzino lost his legs and hands due to meningitis. He has two prosthetic legs, according to investigators. 
 
 Investigators said he was last seen in a 2012 red Toyota Camry with Florida tag 112VZY. They said he could be in the Jupiter or Coral Springs area. 
 
 Michael Petrozzino worked at Disney World and his wife was a second-grade teacher at Andover Lakes Elementary School . 
 
 Parents and student at the school were grieving Wednesday. 
 
 "It's just unbelievable, something you can't comprehend," said Richard Reeder, a grandparent who was at the school Wednesday. 
 
 Andover Lakes Elementary School Principal Angela Zambaux sent a message to parents that said, "I am very sad to report that we have lost second-grade teacher Mrs. Nancy Petrozzino today. She died in her home today." 
 
 "I was shocked when I found out it was her. Literally, my kids cried for hours yesterday," said neighbor Jennifer Satmaria. "My one daughter didn't even go to school today . She woke up with a migraine because she cried so much yesterday. She was just an awesome lady." 
 
 Neighbors told WFTV Sean Petrozzino had recently moved back to his parents' home with his Great Dane. Richard Ellwood said he met Sean Petrozzino when he and the dog moved into the house, about a week and a half ago. 
 
 "You don’t want it to be anybody. You don’t want that event to have occurred," said Ellwood. "Suddenly you open your door and there’s police tape at both ends of the street." 
 
 Former neighbor Michael Vitale spoke highly of Sean Petrozzino and was surprised by the investigation. 
 
 "There was nothing to have me doubt his integrity or honesty or anything that he might be a threat to anybody's family here," said Vitale. 
 
 On Wednesday, investigators released a photograph of Sean Petrozzino taken at an ATM at a Wells Fargo Bank in Orlando on Tuesday morning. Investigators said they wanted people to look at the physical characteristics of his hands so that someone might be able to identify him. 
 
 Sean Petrozzino's high school principal described him as a nice kid who went through a very tough time as a high school kid, after he contracted bacterial meningitis. 
 
 Neighbors said he never talked about the rare form of bacterial meningitis that ate away at his limbs. Doctors were forced to amputate both his arms and legs when he was in high school. 
 
 His south Florida high school raised money to help pay medical bills for 13 surgeries. It was his rehab that brought his family to Orlando. 
 
 Sean Petrozzino bought his own home in 2006. Court records show the bank foreclosed on the home in 2012 because he stopped paying the $1,300 monthly mortgage. 
 
 When Channel 9 went to the house, we found a maintenance worker paid by a bank to clean up. 
 
 "It just seemed like he packed up one day and left," said Taylor. 
 
 Bank records show Sean Petrozzino owed $200,000 on t he east Orange County home, where the mortgage was $1,300 a month. 
 
 Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call Crimeline.
– "I cannot imagine him doing something like this—I don't think he would be able to." That was the reaction of one of Sean Petrozzino's neighbors to the Orlando Sentinel upon hearing that the 30-year-old South Florida man—a quadruple amputee after a bout with bacterial meningitis as a teen—was being sought by police for questioning in the fatal shooting of his parents. "We do believe he has a firearm," a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office tells WFTV. "He's considered dangerous, and they believe he is in the South Florida area." The spokeswoman notes that Petrozzino is a "person of interest," not a suspect, in his parents' murders. Nancy, a second-grade teacher, and Michael, a Disney World cast member, were found dead in their Orange County home Tuesday. People who know Petrozzino are baffled by the possibility of the once-inspiring teen being a murderer: After he contracted meningitis at 16, he touched people with his "upbeat attitude" and "positive outlook," notes the Sentinel. Interviews and records indicate he had recently separated from his wife, had his home foreclosed on, and moved back in with his parents. Investigators have released a picture of Petrozzino at a local ATM, asking the public to take special note of the appearance of his hands in the hopes of ID'ing him; the head of a prosthetics company tells the Sentinel that people without hands are able to fire guns without requiring any special devices. Petrozzino is believed to be driving a red Toyota Camry with the Florida license plate 112VZY. (More crime news: In Delaware, an ex-NFL cheerleader is accused of raping a teen.)