10 killed by Alabama gunman

I wonder what possesses people like this guy and the one in Germany to do this kind of thing.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090311/world/us_crime_shooting_alabama

SAMSON, Alabama (AFP) - A US gunman killed at least 10 people, including his grandparents and other relatives, in a deadly rampage in southern Alabama before turning the gun on himself, officials said Wednesday.

Michael McLendon, 27, left a trail of dead and wounded across two rural counties and three towns during Tuesday's shooting spree before killing himself after being cornered by police in a factory where he had worked.

Authorities said they were still trying to unravel the drama and McLendon's motives, but the carnage apparently began in the small town of Kinston, where McLendon set fire to his mother's house, leaving her dead.

This guy also killed his mother's dogs the same time he killed his mother, then poured gas on them and burnt them.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090311/us/usreport_us_usa_shooting_9

MOTHER KILLED WITH FAMILY DOGS

The website of the Dothan Eagle newspaper quoted Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley as saying the gunman had been armed with both pistols and assault rifles.

The shooting spree began in Kinston, a small town in Coffee County, and continued to Samson, where McLendon killed his grandmother, uncle and others, said the FBI, local police and Preachers.

It ended after a car chase and gun battle in Geneva, the county seat about 12 miles away, they said.

Describing the car chase, Melton said: "Officer Ricky Morgan rammed his car to distract him and was rewarded with a hail of bullets .... One bullet grazed the shoulder of police chief Frankie Lindsey."

A police officer in Geneva said the gunman "shot at several vehicles on the highway and then he shot at Wal-Mart and Piggly Wiggly," a grocery store.

McLendon also shot the family's dogs, Preachers said. "He killed her (his mother) and her dogs. He shot the dogs in the head. Then he piled them up and gassed them (poured gasoline on them and lit it). He laid the dogs next to her," he said

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/11/alabama.deputy/index.html

Geneva County Sheriff's Deputy Josh Myers quickly hung up the phone after he got his friend's message on Tuesday and started for the town of Samson, having no idea what had happened to his wife or his three children.

Then, another urgent message:

"We got notified on the radio that a trooper was chasing a suspect that had fired shots," Myers told reporters on Wednesday.

Instead of heading home, the deputy drove to Reliable Metal Products plant in the nearby town of Geneva, where the gunman had shot and killed himself after a bloody rampage in southern Alabama in which he killed 10 people -- including relatives and apparent strangers.

Myers had no idea that the man, whose body he saw at the plant, had shot and killed his wife and 1½-year-old daughter, Corinne Gracy, and shot and wounded his 3-month-old baby girl, Ella Kay.

A family friend found the couple's 4-year-old son hiding in the Myers' home after the shooting.

"He was present when it happened," Myers said. "He knows something's wrong. He asked where mama was, and I had to tell him she was with Jesus. This is going to take a long time to work through it."

I read this and tried hard not to cry. I can't even imagine the pain he's feeling.