SAMSON, Ala. — A gunman on a rampage across two southern Alabama counties Tuesday killed at least nine people, including members of his own family and apparent strangers, and burned down his mother’s home before fatally shooting himself, authorities said.
Police were examining shootings in at least four locations in different communities, all believed to be the work of a gunman identified by officials as Michael McLendon of Kinston.
The afternoon of bloodshed began in Kinston, near the Alabama-Florida border, where the shooter burned down his mother’s house, according to Coffee County coroner Robert Preachers.
Officials located the woman’s body inside the still-burning house, but they had not yet been able to determine a cause of death or whether she was the 10th victim.
The gunman then headed east, into Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people — four adults and a child — at a home in the nearby town of Samson. Then he killed one person each in two other homes. The identities of all the victims were unknown, but Preachers said they included other members of the shooter’s family.
“He started in his mother’s house,” Preachers said. “Then he went to Samson, and he killed his granny and granddaddy and aunt and uncle. He cleaned his family out.”
“We don’t know what triggered it,” Preachers added.
The gunman also shot at a state trooper’s car, wounding the trooper with broken glass.
He then killed someone at a Samson supply store and another person at a service station.
Samson contractor Greg McCullough said he was pumping gas at the station when the gunman opened fire, killing a woman coming out of the service station and wounding McCullough in the shoulder and arm with bullet fragments that struck his truck and the pump.
“I first thought it was somebody playing,” he said.
Police pursued the gunman to Reliable Metal Products just north of Geneva, where he fired an estimated 30 rounds from a semiautomatic weapon, the Alabama safety department said. One of the bullets hit Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, who was saved by his bulletproof vest.
The gunman then went inside the plant and shot himself, according to the safety department’s statement.
Reliable Metal Products makes grills and vents for heating and AC systems, mainly for hotels. A person who answered the plant phone said no one there could talk about the shooting.
State Rep. Warren Beck, a Republican whose district includes Geneva, said the gunman had worked at Reliable Metal.
State Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said some of those killed in Samson were sitting outside.
“He was just driving down the street shooting at people sitting on their porches,” she said. “A family was just sitting on the porch, and they were shot.”
Smith and Beck were at the statehouse when troopers came to get them and took them to Geneva County. Smith said the governor’s office is sending resources, and state troopers are setting up a command post.
Samson Mayor Clay King said he knew the gunman but wouldn’t identify him. He declined to comment on a possible motive.
“What I’m focusing on is people here in the town, making sure they feel comfortable,” said King, who added the town opened a crisis center at the First Baptist Church with counselors available.
King said he’s the “most shocked person in the world” about the shooting.
“I’ve lived here 44 years and never, never dreamed of this happening,” he said.
