It has been revealed that the gunman behind a mass shooting Thursday in Florida previously killed his son in a hunting accident and reportedly suffered mental health problems.
Grandfather Don Spirit, 51, reportedly gunned down his adult daughter and her six children inside his Bell home, Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz said in a Thursday evening press conference. Local media is reporting the other adult victim is 28-year-old Sarah Spirit, but he declined to confirm.
The deceased children are reported by WESH to be: Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11, Kylie Kuhlmann, 9, Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8, Destiny Stewart, 5, Brandon Stewart, 4, and Alanna Stewart, 3 months. "There's still a lot of unanswered questions.
There's going to be questions that we're never going to get answered," said Schultz.
Donald Spirit was previously convicted in a felony drug case and also pleaded guilty to a gun possession charge after accidentally killing his eight-year-old son in a hunting accident, authorities said.
It also appears that the grandfather suffered from mental health problems.
Donald Spirit revealed to the paper during the subsequent trial that he suffered from mental health problems and also had concerns his medication was insufficient.
"The medication, I've tried it. It ain't working," Spirit told the Sentinel during a 2003 interview. "The one medicine I have is my family."
That kind of makes you wonder if that first shooting death was indeed an accident, or a practice run for things to come.
Well there is certainly no way to chalk this latest murder to an accidental shooting:
First responders found a horrific scene when they arrived: Seven dead bodies strewn "all over the property," according to Schultz.
"I haven't handled something like this at all, to say that this county, this community is not going to be devastated by this... There are certain things in life you can explain, and there are some things you can't," Schultz lamented, looking down as if trying to come to grips with the carnage.
Simply put this individual should NEVER have had access to a firearm, but because of this country's "gun culture" he clearly did not have much difficulty obtaining one. Or as it turns out more than one.
And because of those lax gun laws there are now six innocent children who are no longer among the living.
