11 Dead in Alabama Shooting Spree

At least 11 people have died in what authorities are calling the deadliest mass murder in Alabama history, a shooting spree that killed 10 people in two south Alabama towns. Many of the victims were relatives of the gunman who killed himself after firing on the police who were chasing him.

The killing spree started when the gunman set fire to his mother's home.

Authorities were trying to piece together the sequence of events that began Tuesday afternoon in the town of Kinston, population about 3,000, near the Alabama-Florida line:

• The gunman burned down his mother's home in Kinston and her body was found inside. It was not certain late Tuesday if she had been shot.

• The gunman then drove to nearby Samson, an even smaller town, in Geneva County. There he shot four adults and a 1-year-old child in one home, using a semiautomatic rifle. Coffee County coroner Robert Preachers told reporters that the victims included the gunman's grandparents, aunt and uncle.

• Also in Samson, the gunman then killed one person each in two other homes. Preachers said those victims were also relatives of the gunman.

• The gunman then went on a shooting spree in Samson randomly shooting at homes and businesses and killing a woman coming out of a service station and wounding a man pumping gas. Witnesses said he also shot people who were sitting on their front porches.

• The gunman then fled Samson and drove 12 miles to Geneva. Police rammed his Mitsubishi Eclipse on state Hwy. 52, but he made it to the parking lot of Reliable Metal Products, where he once worked. He fired at the police chasing him, hitting Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, who was saved by his bullet proof vest.

• He fired more than 30 bullets at the metals plant before going inside the building and shooting himself dead.

'Most Horrific Thing'

"It is truly one of the most horrific things that anyone in law enforcement can remember in Alabama," Col. J. Christopher Murphy, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, told The New York Times. "We're still getting victims coming in."

The Dothan Eagle reported that witnesses and a former high school classmate identified the gunman as Michael McLendon, 27. Residents of the small town, where everyone knows every else, were trying to deal with the shocking events.

"You want to talk about a horrific scene," Alina Knowles of Samson, told reporters. "You see what I saw. I went to get the baby. There was blood all over that porch. The baby was covered in her mother's blood."

"He was just driving down the street shooting at people sitting on their porches," State Sen. Harri Anne Smith said. "A family was just sitting on the porch and they were shot."

Authorities said no one knows what triggered the killing spree.

See Also:
11 Dead in Geneva County Shooting Spree
10 Shot, Killed in South Ala. Towns; Shooter Dead

What Is Your Opinion?
Discuss The Alabama Shooting Case

Free Newsletter:
Get the Crime & Punishment Newsletter

^{Photo: BigStockPhoto.com}