|
 Deputies were scouring the scene of the murder-suicide that left
eight people dead on Thursday, but no motive had yet been
identified.
Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz said Spirit called the 911
emergency line and killed himself after deputies arrived at the
house. Everyone in the home was dead, including Sarah Spirit, 28,
and her six children aged between 11 years old and younger than
three months.
"We have no indication what caused this man to do what he did,"
Schultz told a news conference on Thursday night. "We may never
know."
Schultz said that officers had been called to Spirit's home near the
small town of Bell, about 35 miles (56 km) west of Gainesville,
numerous times in the past.
A New Jersey native, Spirit had an extensive criminal history,
according to public records, including convictions for drug and
illegal weapons possession, battery, and depriving a child of food
and shelter.
[to top of second column] |
In 2001, Spirit shot his 8-year-old son to death in what was deemed
to be a hunting accident, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper reported.
He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in
connection with the case and was sentenced in a plea deal to three
years in prison, the paper reported.
(Reporting by David Adams, Jonathan Kaminsky and Curtis Skinner;
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
