Police in Florida who did time in prison a decade ago on firearms violations has gunned down his six grandchildren and his daughter before turning a weapon on himself.
Authorities says Don Spirit, 51, called 911 on Thursday to report that he might do harm to himself or others. When a sheriff's deputy arrived, Spirit fatally shot himself. The deputy subsequently found the bodies of his seven victims "all over on the property," at the rural home in the town of Bell, Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz said.
"There's still a lot of unanswered questions. There's going to be questions that we're never going to get answered," Schultz said, according to The Associated Press.
The sheriff did not say if the 28-year-old victim, identified as Sarah Lorraine Spirit, was the mother of any of the slain children — two boys and four girls.
He declined to say what type of weapon was used in the mass slaying.
Schultz is quoted by Bay News 9 as saying that Spirit had also served a minimum prison sentence for a felony firearms violation that resulted from the 2001 shooting death of his eight-year-old son, apparently in a hunting accident.
According to the Tampa news station: "Spirit's three years in prison came after pleading guilty to accidentally shooting his son Kyle, 8, on Nov. 14, 2001, during a hunting trip to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area near Kenansville."
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