Multiple deaths reported in Alabama shooting rampage

[terraformer]

You're right, he did live nearby. It's unclear to me, though, where he was exactly when the shooting started.

-Mike

He was walking home from the store. He hadn't been inside if I recall from what I was just reading/listening to. BTW: The CourtTV piece never even mentioned what he did. f***ers.

 

[TomH]

This settles it, everyone should have to carry M16's around with them at all times! I can't wait to see the media spin on this one... still think people shouldn't be panic buying?

 

[Kid Presentable]

first the shooting in Illinois, now Alabama and Germany...insane week...

 

[MaverickNH]

"It was later determined that McLendon was armed with two high powered assault rifles, a Soviet-made SKS and a Bushmaster. He also had at least one . 38 caliber pistol, police said. He fired more than 200 rounds, police said at a news conference today."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7055006&page=1

 

[drgrant]

He was walking home from the store. He hadn't been inside if I recall from what I was just reading/listening to. BTW: The CourtTV piece never even mentioned what he did. f***ers.

I find that part especially disheartening, considering the local government officials in TX basically proclaimed the guy a hero- but no, that's not newsworthy for the rest of the drive by media outlets.

-Mike

 

[GrendelKhan]

Yeah, but a handgun is still WAY better than nothing.

+1

 

[Garys]

Take this poll. http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=9982408

 

[Bob P]

More on the Alabama nut job

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090313/ap_on_re_us/south_alabama_shootings

GENEVA, Ala. – The investigation into the recent life of Alabama's gunman paints a troubling portrait of a depressed young man who couldn't hold a job and was a self-proclaimed survivalist who ordered instructional videos on how to commit violence.

At a news conference Thursday night, state law enforcement officials said Michael McLendon, who quit his job last week, had talked in recent days about being depressed about his failure to become a Marine or a police officer.

But the district attorney of neighboring Coffee County, where McLendon lived in an isolated rural home with his mother, described a man who may have been planning his actions.

In that home, where McLendon set his mother's body on fire to begin his killing spree, District Attorney Gary McAliley said investigators found the DVDs and a spiral notebook containing names of people McLendon had worked with and list of things he felt they had done wrong to him.

The weapons enthusiast and self-proclaimed survivalist joined the Marine Corps in 1999 but was discharged a month later for fraudulent enlistment. Four years later, he tried to join the Samson Police Department, but couldn't complete some of the physical requirements at the state police academy.

Other jobs also didn't seem to suit him. He resigned from at least two — one at a metals plant in 2003, the other at a sausage factory just last week. Lists found in his home of people and places he felt wronged him included both businesses and some co-workers.

Though they have learned more about McLendon's behavior in the days before the shootings, authorities said Thursday they still don't know what set him off.

"I don't think anybody could have anticipated this by looking at him and interacting with him," McAliley said. "But certainly he had a volcano inside of him."

Investigators said they found a two-page, handwritten letter in which McLendon admitted he had killed his mother and said he planned to commit suicide. He also mentioned a family dispute over a legal issue but didn't reveal plans to kill anyone else. Authorities said McLendon may have had a dispute with family members over a family Bible.

McLendon started his two-county rampage across rural southern Alabama by burning down the home he shared with his mother. Authorities said results of forensic tests have not yet determined when Lisa McLendon was killed, but they do know her son set her on fire on their couch before driving away.

In the remains of the house, investigators found dozens of soot-covered DVDs on how to commit acts of violence, including how to shoot into a moving car and building a homemade gun silencer. McAliley said they appeared to be serious, not a joke. One of the victims was driving when he was shot and killed.

After he burned down the home, he drove about 12 miles southeast to Samson and gunned down three relatives and the wife and 18-month-old daughter of a local sheriff's deputy on the front porch of his uncle's home. He turned his gun next door and killed his 74-year-old grandmother and sent panicked bystanders fleeing and ducking behind cars.

McLendon then drove off, spraying bullets and killing three more bystanders.

Police caught up with McLendon in Geneva, about 24 miles from his mother's home, at Reliable Products, the metals plant he quit in 2003. Following a shootout with police, he walked into the business and killed himself.

People who spoke to McLendon before the shooting, including the unidentified confidant, knew he was despondent but did not feel he would turn violent, even though he spent his free time at the local firing range, said Jerry Conner, chief of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. He had no criminal record and the only complaint neighbors had was that they were worried about their cows because he was constantly behind his home shooting.

The information investigators have gathered "gives a window into what happened," Conner said. "But this sort of violence and rage, it just boggles the mind."

Great, just great. 'didn't feel he would turn violent even though he spent his free time at the range'

The insinuation in this article is seriously nasty. An interest in guns = incipient madman.

 

[terraformer]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090313/ap_on_re_us/south_alabama_shootings

Great, just great. 'didn't feel he would turn violent even though he spent his free time at the range'

The insinuation in this article is seriously nasty. An interest in guns = incipient madman.

I don't see that at all. Quite the opposite actually. The author seems to suggest that shooting sports enthusiasm was not going to serve as a good indicator.

 

[rcinma]

Conner also said the weapons McLendon carried — two pistols, an SKS and a Bushmaster — were all legal and that the SKS and Bushmaster were not automatic weapons.

Glad the reporter finally got those facts straight.

 

[kevin9]

I came across this article today with further info: Town comedian hailed as hero in Alabama killings

On Friday, witnesses and authorities said Maloy, the 10th and final victim of Tuesday's shooting rampage by Michael McLendon, single-handedly tried to end the violence with his beat-up old pickup truck.

With gunshots still echoing through downtown Samson and the killer headed toward a bigger city 12 miles away, Maloy chased McLendon's dark red Mitsubishi out of town, ramming the vehicle at least once.

Maloy slowed down the killer briefly, and he may have given police and state troopers time to catch up to McLendon, said Geneva County Chief Deputy Tony Helms. But it cost him his life.

Stories like this make me wish more people could and would carry.

 

[Bill Nance]

came across this article today with further info: Town comedian hailed as hero in Alabama killings
Quote:
On Friday, witnesses and authorities said Maloy, the 10th and final victim of Tuesday's shooting rampage by Michael McLendon, single-handedly tried to end the violence with his beat-up old pickup truck.

With gunshots still echoing through downtown Samson and the killer headed toward a bigger city 12 miles away, Maloy chased McLendon's dark red Mitsubishi out of town, ramming the vehicle at least once.

Maloy slowed down the killer briefly, and he may have given police and state troopers time to catch up to McLendon, said Geneva County Chief Deputy Tony Helms. But it cost him his life.

That's one brave SOB. It's sad he died, but at least he died like a lion. Bu tlike it's been said before, more people carrying would have made this less horrific.