by WKRG Staff/The Dothan Eagle/The Associated Press
Published: Tue, March 10, 2009 - 4:41 pm CST
Update: Wednesday, March 18, 10:29 a.m.
The funeral for Bruce Maloy, the last person Michael McLendon shot, is at 11:00 a.m.
Maloy's Legacy
In life, Bruce Maloy stayed out of the spotlight. In death, he became a hero.
Maloy was believed to be the last of Michael McLendon’s random victims, shot as he headed home after a day of work at Brooks Peanut Company in Samson.
But police now know Maloy was killed after the 51-year-old Samson resident made a desperate attempt to stop McLendon Tuesday afternoon before the gunman opened fire on the unarmed Maloy, leaving him dead on Alabama Highway 52.
And according to investigators and eyewitnesses, Maloy’s actions saved lives.
“He’s the entire reason I’m alive right now,” said Ashley Knowles, 22.
Knowles was heading to Samson from Hartford when she saw Maloy’s pickup truck heading toward her, racing alongside McLendon’s car.
She screamed as she saw Maloy ramming McLendon’s car, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.
It wasn’t until later that she realized Maloy was saving her from an even worse fate.
“It looked like he was trying to push (McLendon) off the side of the road. When he saw me coming, he moved back over, because didn’t anybody else to get hurt,” Knowles said. “Right there at my driver door, I had my window down, and I heard it when he crashed right into (McLendon’s) Eclipse. I saw the Eclipse go off the road, and then I just saw dust. I knew he was shooting. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Maloy, he could’ve shot me dead.”
Investigators say Maloy may have witnessed McLendon shoot two people at the Inland Big/Little Store, and he was moved to respond.
Gary Wigginton was downtown at Samson Seed and Feed when he heard a hail of gunfire. Moments later, he saw McLendon’s Mitsubishi Eclipse at a traffic light facing east on Highway 52. Maloy was in his 1985 Isuzu Pup heading west. Wigginton said Maloy turned around and began to pursue McLendon before
Wigginton lost sight.
Greg Bowden knew Maloy for 25 years, and he was buying supplies from a downtown parts store that afternoon when Maloy’s pursuit of McLendon began.
“Undoubtedly he saw something that happened, knew that was the guy and took off after him,” Bowden said. “I saw a red car go by, and Bruce was right behind chasing him.”
Witnesses estimate the speed of the chase at 70 mph through the town.
Craig Harrison was standing by the roadside with a customer at his store when he saw his former employee, Maloy, drive by at an uncharacteristically high speed.
“Me and a customer were going outside, and we heard shots,” Harrison said. “There came the shooter’s car, and Bruce’s truck was not two car lengths behind him. When they passed, I told the customer something had happened, because that boy never drove fast. He took his time. You could tell Bruce was pursuing him.”
Just a few moments later, Harrison heard two more shots, then saw the chase continue across the nearby railroad tracks.
Soon after Knowles encountered the two men in the midst of their chase, Maloy’s attempt at stopping McLendon came to an end.
Based on evidence collected at the crime scene, Alabama Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Tim Rodgers said it appears McLendon was able to pull ahead of Maloy, stop, exit the car and wait on Maloy. Skid marks indicate Maloy locked his breaks, then slammed into the back of McLendon’s car. McLendon fired at least four rounds into the vehicle, then continued toward Geneva.
By the time he reached Geneva, however, police had set up a roadblock, and other nearby agencies were en route.
“What Mr. Maloy did was slow the shooter down enough that law enforcement could get to him before he even got to Geneva, so he had to worry more about police than more civilians,” said Corporal Darrell Smith of the Samson Police Department. “He ran him down on his pickup truck and was enagaging him with his truck, trying to cause the guy to wreck. Unfortunately, it ultimately cost him his life.”
Maloy’s actions may have saved lives in Samson as well.
“If (McLendon) took time to stop at the Big/Little and get out and shoot some people, it’s my belief that if Bruce hadn’t been chasing him, he’d have taken more time at that sidewalk by the True Value Hardware and more people would have been killed,” Bowden said. “He could’ve shot people down here or he could’ve turned off on a side road and killed more folks. I believe Bruce saved a lot of lives.”
Harrison says he wouldn’t be alive today without Maloy’s heroism.
“In my view and the customer who was out there with me, it sure looks like Bruce in pursuing the shooter may have kept him from shooting in our direction,” Harrison said. “There’s no telling, between here and the Mexican restaurant and the Subway and Dollar General, what he would have done if he hadn’t been preoccupied by a vehicle following him. I wonder if we would’ve been two more of the victims if Bruce hadn’t been pursuing him. That’s constantly been a thought running through my mind.”
Those who knew him say Maloy kept mostly to himself, though he always tried to make people laugh.
“He always wanted to be liked. He was a real comedian-type guy,” Harrison said. “He was a good worker and an excellent welder. In school, he was always bullied. Everybody picked on him and made fun of him. That’s what makes me admire more about what he was trying to do, because if anybody had a reason not to care, it was probably him.”
According to his friends, Maloy was always willing to lend a helping hand.
“He was an all-around good guy. He’d do anything for anybody,” Bowden said. “He was just that kind of guy.”
Maloy’s aunt, Reba Judson, said she was not surprised Maloy tried to stop McLendon.
“It makes me very proud of him. The loss still hurts, because that loss will always be there,“ Judson said. “But knowing he tried to do something makes your heart swell up inside.“
The bystanders who witnessed Maloy’s courage Tuesday afternoon just wish he had survived to hear their gratitude.
“I would tell him thank you,” Knowles said. “I’m alive because of you.”
Maloy will be buried Wednesday at Shady Grove Assembly of God Church Cemetery.
Update: Tuesday 1:31 p.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - Hundreds of people filled a church in Samson
for a memorial service for four of the 10 people who were slain
during a shooting rampage in south Alabama last week.
The victims remembered Tuesday were all relatives of the alleged
gunman, Michael McLendon. Pastors urged mourners to make Samson a
town known for love rather than the violence that claimed so many
lives.
A long funeral procession headed by emergency vehicles led four
hearses through town after the memorial.
The joint service was held for McLendon's grandmother,
74-year-old Virginia Ett Wise White; his uncle, 55-year-old James
Alfred White; a 34-year-old cousin, Tracy Michelle Wise; and her
15-year-old son, Dean James Wise.
Update: Tuesday 4:30 a.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - The funerals continue in south Alabama for victims of last week's deadly rampage that claimed 10 lives.
Four relatives of gunman Michael McLendon will be remembered Tuesday during a joint service at the First Baptist Church of
Samson.
Police say the dead - an uncle, his grandmother and two cousins - were among the victims in a two-county killing spree that ended
with McLendon's suicide inside a former workplace in the town of Geneva.
A funeral was held Monday for the first victim of the killing spree, Lisa McLendon. She was the mother of the man police blame
for the slayings.
Update: Monday 5:25 p.m.
Friends and family of James Starling stand outside St. Elizabeth’s Missionary Baptist Church during his funeral in Geneva Monday. Starling was walking on Main Street in Samson to visit a friend when he was shot and killed by Michael McLendon, 28, of Kinston March 10.
Update: Monday 11:02 a.m.
52-year-old Lisa McLendon will be buried today. She was one of 10 people killed by her son, Michael McLendon, during last week's shooting rampage in southeast Alabama.
Update: Monday 4:45 a.m.
Geneva County Sheriff Deputy Josh Myers salutes the casket of his wife Andrea Myers and daughter Corrine Myers after the funeral service in Geneva Sunday afternoon.
GENEVA - Andrea Myers was the only bride that Pastor Mike Clarensau knew of to walk barefoot to the altar.
She was still trick-or-treating in her early 20s. She had been known to fill a boat instead of a cooler with ice to keep food cold.
She had a pet python as a roommate before she approached her in-laws to ask for the hand in marriage of their son, Geneva County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Myers.
Depending on whether or not her husband could leave work, she managed their three kids alone on a 1,000-mile trip to Kansas to visit family.
She was selfless, Josh said, and completely devoted to them.
Her oldest daughter, 19-month-old Corrine, was just as full of life.
Clarensau said Corrine’s favorite song was “Skinnamarink.” She would jump on anything and wave her hands to sing the part, “I love you.”
She loved to hop on people and rub their ears. Her smile lightened every room, and she would kiss the pictures of the people she loved.
No one might have guessed a portrait of her waving to the camera might have symbolized her final goodbye, which family did for both Corrine and her mother on Sunday after the two were gunned down by a man who killed eight others before himself on Tuesday.
Josh was responding to the shootings before learning Andrea and Corrine were among the victims. The Myers’ youngest daughter was injured.
Andrea and Corrine shared a casket on Sunday, with Corrine in her mother’s arms.
“We are saddened two beautiful girls of such ethic and beauty were taken from us in such a violent way. ... Yet we can either remember how they lived or how they died,” Clarensau said.
“We can think of what they gave to us or what was taken away from them. I would encourage you to remember what they gave us.”
Several, including hundreds of law enforcement officials from all over Alabama, appeared to choose the latter on Sunday as dried faces guarded the Myers family on their way from Sorrells Funeral Home Chapel to Samson for burial.
The funeral was the second held for the shooting victims of Michael McLendon.
The first, for Sonya Lolley Smith, was held Saturday.
Funerals for shooting victims
Today
Lisa Carol McLendon
First Baptist Church of Samson, 2 p.m.
James I. Starling
St. Elizabeth’s Missionary Baptist Church, 2 p.m.
Tuesday, March 17
James Alfred White, Virginia Ett Wise White, Dean James Wise, Tracy Michelle “Tator” Wise
First Baptist Church of Samson, 11 a.m.
Wednesday 3/18
Bruce Wilson Maloy
Chapel of Pittman Funeral Home of Samson, 11 a.m.
Update: Sunday 2:30 p.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - Funerals are scheduled for a Geneva county
sheriff deputy's wife and infant daughter who were slain in a
shooting rampage across two counties in rural Alabama.
Deputy Josh Myers joined other law enforcement officers Tuesday
in a chase to stop 28-year-old Michael McLendon, who had killed 10
people and was armed and ready to shoot more.
Myers was unaware his wife Andrea and their 19-month-old
daughter Corrine Gracy were among the victims. Their other
daughter, 3-month old Ella, was injured by shrapnel but survived.
Hundreds of people are expected for the Sunday funeral services
at Sorrells Funeral Home in Geneva.
Update: Saturday 3:00pm
ANDALUSIA, Ala. (AP) - The fund-raising event for famlies of the shooting victims in South Alabama has reached $47,000 in cash, checks and coins plus caskets and vaults for the dead that could send the total to $100,000.
WAAO radio station owner Blaine Wilson organized the event hoping to get $10,000.
He said Saturday it was amazing what a town of 36,000 can do when it pulls together.
The Covington Casket Company provided caskets for the 10 victims and another Andalusia business, McNeill Inc/McNeil Concrete offered
to provide the burial vaults.
Michael McLendon, 28, shot 10 people, including five family members, before killing himself Tuesday afternoon in the worst mass
killing in Alabama history.
Update: Friday 3:00 a.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - A county official says investigators found soot-covered DVDs on how to commit acts of violence in the charred
Alabama home where a man killed his mother at the start of the worst massacre in state history.
Authorities say 28-year-old Michael McLendon set his mother's body on fire Tuesday afternoon at the home they shared in an isolated community. He killed nine more people, four of them family members, before shooting himself.
Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley said Thursday the DVDs included one on how to shoot into a moving car. One of the victims was driving when he was shot.
The district attorney said McLendon had a permit for two pistols he took with him during the massacre but was not licensed to carry two assault rifles he used.
Three-month-old Ella Kay Myers, the youngest victim in the Southeast Alabama shooting rampage, could be released from Pensacola's Sacred Heart Hospital sometime today.
Update: Thursday 7:00 p.m.
The Alabama Bureau of Investigation provided a look into the mind Michael McLendon, the man behind the southeast Alabama shooting rampage during a 6:00 p.m. news conference carried live on wkrg.com.
Jerry Conner with the ABI says McLendon's lifelong dream was to become a Marine and a police officer. A friend says he was depressed that both were unfulfilled. But he never thought McLendon's depression would lead to the shooting rampage.
In 1999, McLendon enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, but was discharged a month later for "fraudulent enlistment."
In 2003, it took McLendon just one month to fail out of the police academy in Montgomery. Later that year he resigned from Reliable Metals in Geneva.
On March 4, less than a week before the shooting rampage, McLendon quit his job at Kelley Foods in Elba.
The ABI says McLendon was a self proclaimed survivalist and was known to train with the weapons he used in the shooting rampage (2 automatic rifles (SKS, Bushmaster), shotgun, .38 caliber handgun)
Investigators say McLendon mailed a letter in which he described how he killed his mother and talked about his intentions of taking his own life. He also discussed how he harbored ill feelings toward family members because of an ongoing dispute.
McLendon fired 125 rounds at his victims, killing 10 and injuring six.
The ABI says a neighbor was the last one to see him alive.
Toxicology test results are pending, but there was nothing found at McLendon's home that would indicate he was taking any prescription medication to treat his depression.
Conner says the evidence in the case will be the "ultimate witness" since McLendon is not around to question about why he did it. Conner also said the investigation has "a long way to go"
Update: Thursday 4:49 p.m.
Trace the path Michael McLendon took on his shooting rampage across Southeast Alabama.
View Larger Map
Update: Thursday 4:36 p.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - Investigators say they hope to offer a look
into the mind of the south Alabama man who killed 10 people and
himself in a siege of gunfire.
State investigators scheduled a news briefing at 6:00 p.m. to discuss their progress in the investigation. Watch it live on wkrg.com
The 28-year-old McLendon had drawn up lists of former co-workers
and how he felt he had been wronged at three former places of
employment. The siege began with the killing of his mother, whose
body he set afire. In less than an hour Tuesday afternoon, he
killed four other relatives, five other people, and himself at a
Geneva metals plant where he once worked.
He also had a dispute with family members over a family Bible.
Investigators said they have interviewed his father, who is
divorced from Michael McLendon's mother.
Update: Thursday 12:28 p.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - The small Alabama farming community where a
gunman opened fire killing nine people remains in disbelief two
days after the rampage.
The town of Samson turned out for a prayer service last night.
The gunman grew up there, graduated from the local high school
and worked in the area's factories. A former teacher says she
enjoyed having Michael McLendon as a student, describing him as
honest.
Josh Smith, who played baseball with McLendon when they were
young says "he was just a normal person."
An Iraq war veteran says watching the carnage Tuesday "was much
worse than anything" he saw while serving, because he says in Iraq
"you are prepared for it."
McLendon began his rampage a dozen miles from Samson in Kinston,
where he burned down the home he shared with his mother, killing
her. It ended an hour later when he committed suicide after a
shootout with police. In between, he shot and killed four more of
his relatives and five bystanders.
Update: Thursday 10:30 a.m.
Three-month-old Ella Kay Myers, the youngest victim in the Southeast Alabama shooting rampage, continues to improve at Sacred Heart in Pensacola.
The infant underwent a successful surgery yesterday afternoon to remove shrapnel from her lower abdomen. She is listed in good condition this morning.
Doctors say she could be released from the hospital tomorrow.
Myers is the daughter of Geneva County Deputy Josh Myers. His his wife Andrea and 18-month-old daughter Connie were two of the ten people killed by Michael McLendon.
Update: Wednesday 11:00 p.m.
(AP)Investigators say they think the Alabama
shooter was depressed but they do not think Tuesday's killing
rampage was job related. For now they are not offering a specific
motive.
Michael McLendon shot and killed 10 people in a number of
locations before killing himself inside a plant where he once
worked. Half the victims were members of his own family, including
his mother. The rest, including the wife and young daughter of a
sheriff's deputy, he apparently did not know.
People in the town of Samson, Ala., shared their grief Wednesday
at the First Baptist Church. The Rev. Steve Sellers prayed for
McLendon's family as well as the victims, saying "There are times
in life when we don't have answers to the question, why."
McLendon abruptly quit his job at a sausage factory last week.
The district attorney says he apparently kept lists of employers
and co-workers he believed had wronged him. The names includes one
worker who reported him for not wearing ear plugs. Another made him
clean a meat grinder.
Update: Wednesday 12:54 p.m.
Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley says police found a hit list at Michael McLendon's home. The list was the names of people "who done him wrong." It included:
- Pilgrim's Pride plant near Enterprise where his mother had been laid off
- Kelley's Foods and Reliable Metals
Kelley's Foods says McLendon quit his job last week. Local officials say he was forced to resign from Reliable Metals in 2003.
McAiley says McLendon and his mom had serious financial troubles. He says that, combined with the bad economy, is what they believe caused McLendon to snap.
McAiley says he believes the shooting rampage would've been worse if police and state troopers did not intervene when they did.
“We believe he was trying to kill some folks there at Reliable Metal Products, but he got shot in the shoulder,” McAliley said. “He was loaded to bear. He had two pistols in his pockets and two assault rifles. It’s our opinion he saw that it was over and put the pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger.”
Update: Wednesday 12:30 p.m.
Names of the Dead
Michael McLendon, 28, of Kinston, started by shooting his own mother in Kinston and setting her house on fire before driving his 2003 maroon Mitsubishi Eclipse to Samson and killing nine others, many members of his own family.
His mom, Lisa McLendon, 52, found shot to death inside her burning home in Kinston.
His uncle: Alfred White, 55, 201 W. Pullum St., the former city shop supervisor for the City of Samson, in charge of water, street, sanitation and sewer.
His first cousin: Tracy Wise, 34, who lived across the street at 204 W. Pullum St., former assistant city clerk and magistrate for the City of Samson and daughter of Alfred White.
His nephew: Dean Wise, 15, a student at Samson High School, and only child of Tracy Wise.
Sheriff’s deputy’s wife: Andrea Myers, of 200 W. Pullum St., wife of Geneva County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Myers, who was involved in the pursuit and shoot-out with McLendon; Josh Myers did not know his wife and child had been shot.
Deputy’s daughter: Corinne Myers, toddler daughter of Andrea and Josh.
His grandmother: Virginia White, 74, who lived in a trailer at 201-1 W. Pullum St. in the yard of her son, Alfred White.
A passerby: James Starling, 24, Samson resident who was walking on Pullum Street at the time of the shooting.
Gas station customer: Sonya Lolley Smith, 23, killed at Big Little Store in Samson.
Samson Pipe and Supply customer: Bruce Malloy
Michael McLendon: Died of self inflicted gunshot wound after shootout with authorities.
Update: Wednesday 8:57 a.m.
Hell came to Samson Tuesday in the form of a deranged gunman whose killing spree left 10 victims dead before he turned a gun on himself.
The gunman, identified by eyewitnesses and a former high school classmate as Michael McLendon, 27, began his mad, violent rampage in Kinston, where one victim was found dead in a burned house, according to authorities.
McLendon then went to Samson where he rampaged through a neighborhood, killing four adults and a 1-year-old child at one residence, and two other people at nearby homes. A 3-month-old infant was also injured in the shootings.
He then went on a random shooting spree through Samson, shooting and killing a woman at a Big Little store on State Highway 52 and another victim at Samson Pipe and Supply.
McLendon also opened fire on Bradley TrueValue Hardware store. Luckily, no one was injured.
“We were just business as normal and all of a sudden there were bullets flying and glass was everywhere,” owner David Bradley said. “We realized what it was and grabbed our guns but then he was gone.”
After McLendon left Samson he fled to Geneva, where he encountered law enforcement officers. Geneva County deputies rammed the suspect’s Mitsubishi Eclipse in front of Alabama Title Loans on State Highway 52, near Wal-Mart.
Gunfire was exchanged and Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey was shot in the shoulder, though his wound was not serious. A chase then continued to Reliable Products where McLendon took his own life.
The children and one of the adults were the family of a Geneva County Sheriff’s Office deputy. The deputy was one of the officers who pursued McLendon to Reliable.
“This is probably the worst thing that’s happened in my career,” Sheriff Greg Ward said. “...While the shootout was going on at Reliable, he had no idea what had happened to his family.”
“You wanna talk about a horrific scene…”
Alina Knowles, her father-in-law Tom Knowles and Barry Aplin were at a house on Pullum Street next door to the residence where five people were killed when the shootings took place.
Aplin heard McLendon shooting and saw him chase a woman into a nearby residence and open fire.
“I saw him in the living room just blazing the world up,” Aplin said.
Knowles said she saw McLendon open fire on her neighbors and their guests who were sitting on the front porch.
“You wanna talk about a horrific scene, you see what I saw. I went over to get that baby, and there was blood all over that porch,” Alina said, referring to the child who survived the shooting. “The baby was covered in her mother’s blood.”
Unanswered questions
Authorities have yet to establish many of the facts of the shootings. Alabama State Trooper Kevin Cook said investigators have established more than 10 different crime scenes in McLendon’s spree. Authorities have yet to identify the victims in the shooting. Eyewitnesses have identified them, but the Dothan Eagle is awaiting next-of-kin notification to release the names.
Aplin said one of the victims was one of his best friends.
“I ain’t sleeping tonight,” Aplin said. “That was my best friend just gone.”
Also unknown at this time is McClendon’s motive for killing.
Cecil Knowles, Alina’s husband, wasn’t at home when the shootings happened, but said McLendon was related to some of the victims and was a frequent guest in the neighborhood.
“I went to high school with him and thought he was a cool guy,” he said. “I don’t know what tipped his lid.”
Jerry Hysmith, a Samson resident, said he had worked with McLendon at Reliable and found him shy, but agreeable.
“He never said anything out of the way to me or anyone,” he said. “He had a great mother and came from a good family.”
Update: Tuesday 11:10 p.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - Alabama authorities say at least 10 people
are dead after a gunman shot at least nine people, including family
members, apparent strangers and himself.
A coroner says the man, who has not been identified, burned down
his mother's home in Kinston, Ala., near the Alabama-Florida state
line. Her body has yet to be recovered from the house, which is
still burning. It's unclear if she was also shot.
Coffee County coroner Robert Preachers says the man then shot
and killed "his granny and granddaddy and aunt and uncle."
Law enforcement officials are saying four adults and a child
were killed at a home in the nearby town of Samson. Two other
people, in different homes, were also shot to death. The identities
of all the victims have not been released, but Preachers says they
include other members of the shooter's family.
After shooting a state trooper's car seven times, and wounding
the trooper with broken glass, the gunman then killed someone at a
Samson supply store, and another person at a service station.
Police pursued the gunman to a metal products plant in another
nearby town where he fired dozens of rounds, one of which struck a
police chief saved by a bullet proof vest. The gunman is said to
have entered the business, where he took his own life.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Update: Tuesday 9:50 p.m.
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) A coroner says the suspect in a shooting
rampage that killed at least 10 people in southeast Alabama began
his day of bloodshed by burning down his mother's house where
officials found her body.
Coffee County Coroner Robert Preachers says officials have not
been able to enter the house outside of Kinston to determine if she
was shot. Preachers says the suspect then went to nearby Samson and
killed his grandparents, aunt and uncle.
Preachers said the grandfather, Alfred White, had raised the
suspect and that officials did not have a motive.
The Alabama Department of Safety says the gunman killed nine
people before fatally shooting himself at a metal products plant in
neighboring Geneva.
Police are investigating at least four separate shootings, all
believed to be done by one gunman. His name was not released.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
BREAKING NEWS
SAMSON, Ala. (AP) - Authorities say at 10 people have been shot
and killed in two south Alabama towns, including the gunman.
The Alabama Department of Safety says at least four shootings by
a single gunman left at least nine people dead before he killed
himself.
The department says in a statement that the shootings began late
Tuesday afternoon in Samson. The shooter killed five people in one
home and one each in two other homes.
The gunman then shot at a state trooper's car, striking the
vehicle seven times and wounding the trooper with broken glass.
Police pursued him to Reliable Metal Products just north of
Geneva, where he fired an estimated 30 rounds.
The statement says the gunman then went in the business and shot
himself.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Ten people are dead, including the man behind a shooting spree which started in Samson and ended in Geneva late Tuesday afternoon.
Geneva Mayor Wynn Tonmelton said there are eight dead in Samson and one in between Samson and Geneva.
State Sen. Harri Anne Smith said that during a briefing with the Alabama Department of Public Safety she was informed that there were 10 casualties, including the shooter. Possible additional shooting sites are also being investigated.
Smith said she and Rep. Warren Beck were interupted during the legislative session around 5 p.m. by department of public safety personnel and were briefed on the situation. Smith and Beck are being transported back to Geneva County by a state trooper.
“We were briefed that it was probably one of the worst instances in Alabama history, at least in the last several years,“ Smith said.
The gunman died in the parking lot of Reliable Products in Geneva after a shootout with a conservation officer and police officer.
The shooting spree began in Samson and included at least one victim at a gas station.
Geneva County Coroner Max Motley said he was called to the Big Little Store on West Main Street in Samson, where he found the body of a woman between the gas pump and the front door. She was found face up with at least one fatal gunshot wound. Other victims are at a home off of Highway 52.
After fleeing Samson, the shooter drove to Geneva, where he encountered law enforcement officers. Geneva County deputies rammed the suspect’s Mitsubishi Eclipse in front of Alabama Title Loans on Highway 52, near Wal-Mart.
Gunfire was exchanged and Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey was shot in the shoulder, though his wound was not serious. A chase then continued to Reliable Products where the gunman died.
“Had he not been slowed down, no doubt we would have had more casualties,“ Tonmelton said. “He was shooting anybody he saw.”
Soleta Darden, who was close to the nearby KFC, witnessed the shootout in front of Wal-Mart.
“I heard five shots to my right, and then I looked up and saw a maroon Eclipse speed off from the scene, then I saw deputies and troopers in pursuit after him,” Darden said. “I was just scared, crazy scared. I though ‘what the crap is going on/“
Dothan Police Capt. Steve Parrish said Dothan Police have been sent to assist for what they understand are “multiple gunshot victims.“ The police department’s crime scene van, investigators, crime scene technicians, and police officers have been sent to assist. Dothan Police Chief John Powell is also responding to provide assistance.
Houston County Sheriff Andy Hughes is also sending five deputies, including Chief Deputy Donald Valenza, to assist Geneva County authorities.
Authorities from several jurisdictions are enroute to Geneva County to assist.
A Dothan Eagle reporter and photographer are in Samson. Another reporter and photographer are in Geneva.
Dothaneagle.com will be continuously updated with information on this breaking story as it becomes available.
Photo of a storefront that was shot during the shooting spree. Click here.
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