Don C. Spirit
The Guardian
A grandfather shot and killed his daughter and six grandchildren at his Florida home on Thursday before turning his gun on himself, law enforcement officials in Florida said.
The children’s ages ranged from three months to 10 years, Gilchrist County sheriff Robert Schultz said at a press conference in Bell, a small town in central Florida about 30 miles west of Gainesville.
Schultz named the killer as Don C Spirit, 51, a town resident who called 911 at about 4pm making threats against his family and himself. He was alive when the first sheriff’s deputy arrived at the house, Schultz said, but killed himself soon after.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that in 2001 a man named Don C Spirit accidentally shot and killed his eight-year-old son Kyle with a high powered rifle in a hunting accident. Florida Department of Corrections records show he was released from jail in 2006 after serving three years for firearms offences relating to that incident.
