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Updated: Wednesday, 11 Mar 2009, 9:54 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 11 Mar 2009, 2:37 PM CDT
SAMSON, Ala. - State, federal and local investigators involved in multiple murders are working to piece together the timeline of the shooting deaths of 10 victims and six injuries, and the death of the suspect from a self-inflicted gunshot. Investigators also are working to determine a motive for the deadly attacks.
The gunman has been identified as Michael Kenneth McLendon, 28, of Coffee County.
Investigators believe the attacks began at McLendon's mother's house in Coffee County on County Road 474 in Kinston, where McLendon also lived. A woman's body was founr at the residence at 3:20 p.m. when firefighters were responding to reports of a fire at the house. The Department of Forensics believe the victim is Lisa White McLendon, 52, McLendon’s mother.
McLendon then went to Samson in Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people on the front porch of his uncle's house on West Pullum Street. The victims are identified as:
Four-month-old Ella K. Myers was injured at the house. She's the other daughter of Deputy Myers. Ella was transported by LifeFlight to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. This morning she was listed in stable condition and scheduled for surgery.
McLendon shot and killed his grandmother, Virginia E. White. She was standing in the doorway of her home.
McLendon left the scene and headed north. He shot and injured Jeffrey Lynn Nelson, 50, a pedestrian.
His next stop was the Inland Gas Station in Samson, where he shot and killed Sonja Smith, 43. Greg McCullough, 49, was injured there. McLendon kept going, firing rounds into several businesses and vehicles as he drove.
An Alabama state trooper told the Dothan State Trooper Post he received a report of a person shooting at folks on Alabama 52.
McLendon was going down Alabama 52 when he shot and killed Bruce Wilson Malloy, 51, as he was driving.
Trooper Mike Gillis came across McLendon and tried to stop him. McLendon fired at least seven rounds into the trooper's cruiser. Trooper Gillis was slightly injured by the glass, but continued to follow McLendon into Geneva.
The Geneva Police Department tried to stop McLendon using a PIT, or pursuit intervention maneuver, in front of the Wal-Mart in Geneva. McLendon fired several rounds into the officer's cruiser, injuring him with glass fragments. Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey tried to block McLendon from leaving. That's when McLendon fired several rounds at Chief Lindsey, wounding him in the shoulder.
McLendon then stopped at Reliable Products in Geneva, where he got out of his vehicle. There was gunfire exchanged between McLendon and a Geneva County deputy and a state Conservation officer before going into the Reliable Products building. Within minutes, gunshots were heard, and McLendon was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
McLendon worked at Kelley Foods of Alabama. He was briefly employed as a police officer in Samson in 2003, but failed to complete required training at the police academy in Montgomery. He had no known criminal record.
McLendon was armed with two assault rifles, an SKS and a Bushmaster, using high-capacity magazines taped together; a shotgun; and a .38-caliber handgun. Investigators believe he fired over 200 rounds during the assaults.
In addition to the Alabama Department of Public Safety, agencies participating in the investigation are the Geneva County Sheriff's Department, Geneva Police Department, Samson Police Department, Coffee County Sheriff's Department, Dothan Police Department, Dale County Sheriff's Department, Andalusia Police Department, Covington County Sheriff's Department, New Brockton Police Department, Ozark Police Department, State Fire Marshal, Alabama Beverage Control Board, Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Forensic Sciences, Emergency Management Agency, Alabama Power Company investigators, the FBI, ATF, and Ft. Rucker Police Department.
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