Florida police are grappling with a gruesome murder-suicide where a man shot and killed his daughter and six grandchildren before turning the gun on himself.
A Gilchrist County deputy arrived at a north Florida home Thursday afternoon after 51-year-old Don Spirit, who was a convicted felon, called 911 saying he might hurt himself and others, the Associated Press reported.
Spirit killed himself when the deputy arrived at the home in the rural town of Bell, Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz said. Police entered the home and found seven other bodies- six children ranging in ages from 3 months to 11 years and one adult female.
The type of weapon used has not been disclosed. Police did not comment on where exactly in the home the bodies were found, but "they were certainly all over the property," Schultz told the AP.
The children have been identified as 3-month old Alanna Stewart; 4-year-old Brandon Stewart; 5-year-old Destiny Stewart; 8-year-old Johnathon Kuhlmann; 9-year-old Kylie Kuhlmann; and 11-year-old Kaleb Kuhlmann.
The adult was Sarah Spirit, Don Spirit's 28-year-old daughter. Schultz did not say if she is the mother of all of the children. A motive for the killings remains unclear.
"It's tragic, the kids. Even if there were family problems, why the kids?" Daniel Barry, a resident of Bell, which has 350 residents, told the AP. "It's enough that he took his daughter's life, but the grandkids, too? It's surreal."
Deputies have been called to the same Bell home numerous times in the past, Schultz told the AP. He did not specify the nature of the calls.
In 2003, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Don Spirit, then 40, accidentally shot and killed his 8-year-old son Kyle during a hunting trip two years earlier. He pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Sprit was sentenced to three years in prison and was released in 2006.
