Ten die in Alabama shooting spree

sara1981

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Ala. gunmen kills 9, himself in shooting spree
Ala. gunmen kills 9, himself in shooting spree

SAMSON, Ala. – A gunman killed at least nine people on a terrifying rampage across two Alabama counties Tuesday, burning down his mother's home, killing members of his own family on their porch and shooting apparent strangers as he drove by, authorities said. He then fatally shot himself.

Police were investigating shootings in at least four different locations in three neighboring communities, all of which were believed to be the work of a single gunman named Michael McLendon. Investigators declined to comment on a motive for the shootings, in which at least four other people were injured, including a child.

The afternoon of bloodshed began when McLendon burned down the house in Kinston where he lived with his mother, Lisa McLendon, according to Coffee County Coroner Robert Preachers. Officials located Lisa McLendon's body inside the house, but they had not been able to get inside the still-burning house to determine a cause of death or whether she was a 10th victim of her son's killing spree.

He then headed about 12 miles southeast to Samson, in Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people — four adults and a child — at a home. He killed one person each in two other homes.

The identities of all the victims were unknown, but Preachers said they included other members of the shooter's family.

"He started in his mother's house," Preachers said. "Then he went to Samson and he killed his granny and granddaddy and aunt and uncle. He cleaned his family out."

"We don't know what triggered it," Preachers added.

McLendon also shot at a state trooper's car, striking the vehicle seven times and wounding the trooper with broken glass.

He then killed someone at a Samson supply store, and another person at a service station.

Samson contractor Greg McCullough said he was pumping gas at the station when McLendon opened fire, killing a woman coming out of the service station and wounding McCullough in the shoulder and arm with bullet fragments that struck his truck and the pump.

"I first thought it was somebody playing," he said. He said the gunman roared into the parking lot and slammed on his brakes. Then he saw the rifle.

He said the gunman fired and the rifle appeared to jam, then he "went back to firing." Then he drove off.

McCullough, a father of two, said he tried to help the woman who was shot and yelled for someone to call an ambulance.

"I'm just in awe that something like this could take place. That someone could do such a thing. It's just shocking," McCullough told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Police pursued McLendon to Reliable Metal Products just north of Geneva, about a dozen miles southeast of Samson, where he fired an estimated 30 rounds from a semiautomatic weapon, the Alabama safety department said. One of the bullets hit Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, who was saved by his bullet proof vest.

McLendon then went inside the plant and shot himself, according to the safety department's statement.

Reliable Metal Products makes grills and vents for heating and AC systems, mainly for hotels. A person who answered the phone at the plant said no one could talk about the shooting.

State Rep. Warren Beck, a Republican whose district includes Geneva, said the gunman had worked at Reliable Metal.

"My secretary heard gunfire everywhere," he said. "This is one of the most tragic events ever in Geneva County."

State Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said some of those killed in Samson were sitting outside.

"He was just driving down the street shooting at people sitting on their porches," she said. "A family was just sitting on the porch and they were shot."

Smith and Beck were at the Statehouse when state troopers came to get them and took them to Geneva County. Smith said the governor's office is sending resources and state troopers are setting up a command post.

A white single-story house where the five people were killed in Samson was cordoned off by police.

Police had hung white sheets to the entranceway to shield the scene where authorities said a black hearse that pulled away late Tuesday was transporting victims' bodies.

Samson Mayor Clay King said he knew the gunman.

"What I'm focusing on is people here in the town, making sure they feel comfortable," said King, who added the town opened a crisis center at the First Baptist Church with counselors available.

King said he's the "most shocked person in the world" about the shooting.

"I've lived here 44 years and never, never dreamed of this happening," he said.

John Rainey, an administrator at Wiregrass Medical Center, in Geneva, said a child was brought in with injuries then flown to another hospital. The staff had geared up to try to help other survivors, but their hopes were dashed when reports of the deaths came in.

"We set up for the worst there for a couple of hours and unfortunately we were getting the same bad reports as everyone else — most people were untreatable," said Rainey "It's something you'd expect in Atlanta or your bigger cities but in a little town it puts a lot of people in stress. Our nursing staff broke down in tears hearing what was going on and realizing they weren't going to be able to help them."

The towns of Geneva and Samson are near the Florida border in southeast Alabama. Geneva's population is about 4,400 and Samson, 2,000.

In the center of Samson, authorities in sheriff's cars and trucks with blue lights flashing blocked off part of East Main Street, where some of the shooting occurred.

At the hardware store, yellow tape was strung across the front of the store where at least five bullet holes punctured the glass windows to the store, with its wheelbarrows and Adirondack lawn chairs on display. An orange-and-black sign to the store reading "Closed" lay on the ground outside the store atop the glass shards.

David Bradley, 51, the owner of the hardware store, said he was inside behind the counter when the shooter opened fire outside his store. At the time, there were five customers inside, plus Bradley's 27-year-old son, Justin.

"No one was injured inside the store," David Bradley said, adding he didn't even get a glimpse at the suspect. "It happened so quick."
 
Yes I saw it on ZDF Spezial news on the same time as German school shooting of today. It´s really sad and terrible... :(

I feel really bad for the families of victims... :tears:


 
Geez Louise!!

Seems like too many people like to go out with a BANG! :roll:
 
Gunman in Alabama slayings was briefly a police officer

GENEVA, Alabama (CNN) -- The gunman responsible for the deadliest crime in Alabama's history worked briefly as a police officer in the small town of Samson, which was hardest hit by Tuesday's deadly rampage, authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities identified the shooter as Michael McLendon, 28, of Kinston, Alabama, in Coffee County. Speaking at several news conferences on Wednesday, authorities also released a detailed timeline of the rampage -- which lasted less than an hour -- and identified the victims.

By the time it was over, McLendon had shot and killed at least 10 people -- including two children -- and wounded at least four others before he killed himself, officials said.

But they still have no idea of a motive.

"I don't think anybody has any idea of what the motive is," Samson Mayor Clay King told CNN's "American Morning." "The whole community is still in shock."

CNN affiliate WTVY, citing the Associated Press, is reporting that the gunman had a list of those "who done him wrong."

Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley told the AP an investigator found the list in the shooter's home, according to WTVY.

McLendon was armed with two assault rifles, two semiautomatic weapons, a handgun and a shotgun, and "high-capacity" rounds.

"We believe he fired in excess of 200 rounds during the assaults," Alabama State Police Cpl. Steve Jarrett said.

The rampage began Tuesday afternoon when McLendon shot and killed his mother before setting fire to the home he shared with her in Kinston, near the Alabama-Florida state line. He then headed to Samson, where he opened fire on his uncle's front porch as his uncle and other relatives stood outside with the neighbors from across the street.

Those neighbors happened to be the family of Geneva County Sheriff's Deputy Josh Myers, who was later involved in a shoot-out with the gunman, unaware that McLendon had shot and killed his wife and young daughter and critically injured his nearly 4-month-old baby, Ella Kay.

Five people, including Myers' wife and their 1½-year-old daughter, Corinne Gracy, were killed on the porch. McLendon then opened fire on his grandmother, who was standing in the doorway of her home next door.

Alina Knowles was in her home in Samson when she heard the gunman fire on the porch so many times that it sounded like a horror film.

After the shooting stopped, Knowles saw the gunman flee the area and drive around the block.

Knowles, a certified nurse assistant, looked around for survivors. She saw members of Myers' family dead on the porch, but nobody's chest was moving to signal they were alive.

Then she heard Myers' baby girl, Ella Kay, crying.

" Picked her up, came between the two vehicles," she said. "Saw him coming up the road, ducked so he wouldn't see me, as he was coming up this way I ducked, was still ducking and moving around their van trying to keep him from seeing me with that baby."

Knowles said she knew if she wasn't careful, the gunman would target her.

"I would have been dead," she told CNN. "I would have been on that ground there."

Knowles was able to get the deputy's child and herself to safety. But the horror of the events sticks with her.

"I was scared," she said. "The scene I saw, there was no words for it. None at all. There is no describing what I saw."

McLendon then shot and killed two bystanders in Samson before heading to the Reliable Metal Products plant in nearby Geneva. There, he exchanged fire with Myers and another officer in the parking lot before entering the building, where he shot and killed himself.

"We truly are shocked at this," the director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, Col. Christopher Murphy, said. "This event formed the single deadliest crime recorded in Alabama."

McLendon -- who had no known criminal record before carrying out Tuesday's rampage -- worked briefly as a police officer in Samson, but failed to complete the "required training" at the police academy in Montgomery in 2003, according to Alabama State Trooper Capt. Marc McHenry.

He "didn't last a week and a half" at the police academy and received no firearms training there, Murphy said.

King, the mayor of Samson, said he knew the shooter and all of the victims in the small southern Alabama town.

"I coached him in both T-ball and Little League baseball along with my two sons," he said of the shooter.

McLendon worked nearly two years at food manufacturer and distributor Kelley Foods in Elba, about 25 miles north of Samson.

He quit his job last week, the company said in a statement. The company didn't specify what his position was, but said in a statement that he was a "reliable team leader" who was well-liked.

"I can't describe what happened, why it happened," Geneva County Sheriff Greg Ward told CNN affiliate WTVY. "It's just a sad day for Geneva County."

"He was shooting at just ordinary people going about their business," said Alabama state Sen. Harri Anne Smith.

Smith represents Geneva County, where all but one of the victims were killed. Smith said she had been briefed about the incident by state and local law enforcement.

Another mass killing occurred in southern Alabama in 2002, when Westley Devon Harris gunned down six members of his 16-year-old girlfriend's family at their farm in Luverne. Harris was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty in 2005.

Gunman in Alabama slayings was briefly a police officer - CNN.com
 
That's very sad and I feel bad for victim families who suffers from loss. :(
 
I think it is the economy where we will see more and more psychos AND because we are heading towards a Socialist state. Germany already is one.
 
Very tragic situation. :(

I'm glad that the nurse assistant rescued the baby.
 
I think it is the economy where we will see more and more psychos AND because we are heading towards a Socialist state. Germany already is one.

You are right. I already knew it will come. I learned about this through many books/newspapers/internet since 1979 or 1980. :)

I am a book wormer. :lol:
 
I think it is the economy where we will see more and more psychos AND because we are heading towards a Socialist state. Germany already is one.
no

You are right. I already knew it will come. I learned about this through many books/newspapers/internet since 1979 or 1980. :)

I am a book wormer. :lol:
no
 

Well, that's YOUR viewpoint. Our viewpoints may be different than yours. Remember, Tousi is more older and he knew what has changed since from that year when he was young back then. I was born in 1960 and I also can see major changes as well, but Tousi had seen it alot more than I do since he was born before me. :)
 
Well, that's YOUR viewpoint. Our viewpoints may be different than yours. Remember, Tousi is more older and he knew what has changed since from that year when he was young back then. I was born in 1960 and I also can see major changes as well, but Tousi had seen it alot more than I do since he was born before me. :)

no. and exactly what has changed since 1960's? we're still a capitalist country, are we not? :)
 
I think she means social programs or government assistance, not socialist state?
 
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