Ala. Shooter Depressed Over Failures

(AP)  In the days before he killed 10 people and himself in the worst massacre in Alabama history, Michael McLendon told a confidant he was unfulfilled and depressed by his failure to become a police officer or a Marine.

The 28-year-old weapons enthusiast and self-proclaimed survivalist joined the Marine Corps in 1999 but was discharged a month later for fraudulent enlistment. Four years later, he tried to join the Samson Police Department, but couldn't complete some of the physical requirements at the state police academy.

Other jobs also didn't seem to suit him. He resigned from at least two - one at a metals plant in 2003, the other at a sausage factory just last week. Lists found in his home of people and places he felt wronged him included both businesses and some co-workers.

Though they have learned more about McLendon's behavior in the days before the shootings, authorities said Thursday they still don't know what set him off.

"I don't think anybody could have anticipated this by looking at him and interacting with him," said Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley. "But certainly he had a volcano inside of him."

Investigators said they found a two-page, handwritten letter in which McLendon admitted he had killed his mother and said he planned to commit suicide. He also mentioned a family dispute over a legal issue but didn't reveal plans to kill anyone else. McAliley said earlier that McLendon appeared to have had a dispute with family members over a family Bible, though he said he now believes there's no merit to that idea.

McLendon started his two-county rampage across rural southern Alabama by burning down the home he shared with his mother in the small, isolated community of Holley's Store near Kinston. Authorities said results of forensic tests have not yet determined when Lisa McLendon was killed, but they do know her son set her on fire on their couch before driving away.

In the remains of the house, investigators found dozens of soot-covered DVDs on how to commit acts of violence. McAliley said they appeared to be serious, not a joke, and included one about how to shoot into a moving car. One of the victims was driving when he was shot and killed.

After he burned down the home, he drove about 12 miles southeast to Samson and gunned down three relatives and the wife and 18-month-old daughter of a local sheriff's deputy on the front porch of his uncle's home. He turned his gun next door and killed his 74-year-old grandmother and sent panicked bystanders fleeing and ducking behind cars.

McLendon then drove off, spraying bullets and killing three more bystanders.

Police caught up with McLendon in Geneva, about 24 miles from his mother's home, at Reliable Products, the metals plant he quit in 2003. Following a shootout with police, he walked into the business and killed himself.

McLendon had a permit for two pistols he had with him during the rampage but no license for two assault rifles he used as he squeezed off some 200 rounds. He bought plenty of ammunition and magazines the day before the killings, authorities said.

People who spoke to McLendon before the shooting, including the unidentified confidant, knew he was despondent but did not feel he would turn violent, even though he spent his free time at the local firing range, said Jerry Conner, chief of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. He had no criminal record and the only complaint neighbors had was that they were worried about their cows because he was constantly behind his home shooting.

The information investigators have gathered "gives a window into what happened," Conner said. "But this sort of violence and rage, it just boggles the mind."

[mdalerwill]

That exact situation was created in Austrailia and England. Both countries experienced dramatic increases in crime because the criminal element knew that the honest citizen was unarmed and couldn't stop them.
Posted by mecanik-2009 at 6:37 PM : Mar 13, 2009

I have noted your comments on this matter on other threads. Please post your statistics, raw data, and sources for dramatic increase in crime in England.
Posted by mdalerwill at 8:42 AM : Mar 16, 2009

Nevermind. I see your answer on another thread is "The numbers are irrelevent."

[mdalerwill]

That exact situation was created in Austrailia and England. Both countries experienced dramatic increases in crime because the criminal element knew that the honest citizen was unarmed and couldn't stop them.
Posted by mecanik-2009 at 6:37 PM : Mar 13, 2009

I have noted your comments on this matter on other threads. Please post your statistics, raw data, and sources for dramatic increase in crime in England.

[ka_ree4]

I've read several different times in different articles that he was quiet in school, "a good kid", kept to himself at work but was, for the most part a good worker. - I'd venture to bet he was teased and bullied when he was a kid. Maybe he came from a lower/middle class family; maybe he wore cothes that were out of date; maybe his hair wasn;t cut like all the other kids- at any rate, sounds like he was probably picked on. Bullying really has a profound effect on people and sometimes problems stemming from it don't manifest until later in life. Maybe one too many people finally called him a loser and he just snapped. i'm not excusing this unspeakable act of violence- but it does happen like this often in our society.

[msay3]

A person with no sense of morality will do what ever he feels is necessary to obtain those goals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commonly called a Sociopath.....

[msay3]

He looks like "Opie" (Ron Howard) from "The Andy Griffeth Show".

[gunownerdan]

Virtually the only use I see for lethal weapons of any kind is for national defense and police protection. That's it.
Posted by cs4466

"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State."
- Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler's SS leader

[mattypracing]

The purpose of gun control is to separate guns from people with a hidden screw loose. Your opposition to this prudent measure insures that more children will undergo the 'honor' your best friends kids underwent. Thanks for taking their fathers side against them.
Posted by ubrew12 at 6:25 PM : Mar 13, 2009

And just how do we do that? Take away guns from everyone who is quiet and never got in any trouble like this guy? How do we determine who has a hidden screw loose? Oh I get it, take guns away from EVERYONE, even law abiding citizens such as myself and millions of others? And as far as the crack about "taking their father's side against them", you disgust me. I won't even dignify that with a reply. I don't need to make an idiot out of you, since you've done a stellar job of that with your informed and educated post. *Rolls Eyes*

[rwsmith29456]

This guy was depressed over failures so he decided to go out with an even bigger failure. Sounds like a great reason for killling 10 strangers.

[ubrew12]

mattypracing said: "My best friend was... executed...with a shotgun in front of [her] two kids... I still... believe in the right to own a gun. Guns don't kill people by themselves, people like this who have a hidden screw loose kill people. "

The purpose of gun control is to separate guns from people with a hidden screw loose. Your opposition to this prudent measure insures that more children will undergo the 'honor' your best friends kids underwent. Thanks for taking their fathers side against them.

[mattypracing]

My best friend was murdered by her husband. He executed her with a shotgun in front of their two kids, ages two and four at the time. He took the time to reload a single shot shotgun and shoot her a second time in the head. But after enduring the most horrible experience of my life, the shock, the dismay, and sitting through his murder trial and enduring the so called "justice system" giving him a plea bargain, I still firmly believe in the right to own a gun and bear arms, as our constitution is written. Guns don't kill people by themselves, people like this who have a hidden screw loose kill people.