On the morning after a local resident went on a shooting rampage that left at least 10 people dead in rural Alabama, the mayor of one of the small towns in the killer’s line of fire was trying to understand how a man he’d known all his life could do such a thing.
The heavily armed shooter, who took his own life after a 30-mile rampage across two counties, has been identified as Michael McLendon. Among those he killed were his grandmother, uncle, niece and cousin. Police also suspect he burned down his mother’s house with her inside.
“I’ve known Michael all of my life. As a matter of fact, I coached him along with my two sons in T-ball and Little League,” Samson Mayor Clay King told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Wednesday from Alabama. “If you would of asked me two days ago if he was capable of this, I would have said certainly not.”
‘A terrible loss’
King said that published reports that McLendon might have recently lost his job at Geneva's Reliable Metal Products, where he killed himself after trading fire with pursuing police, were false.
“It’s my understanding that he resigned from Reliable Products in 2003 and was currently employed with another business,” the mayor told Vieira.
King said that enormity of the loss inflicted on his town and the neighboring communities of Geneva and Kinston still hasn’t completely sunk in.
“It’s just a terrible loss,” he said. “It’s just a terrible day here in Samson. I don’t think it’s really become a reality to us yet. I think we’re still in shock.”
To King, the dead weren’t just names in a police report.
“All of ’em were hard-working people; very good family people,” King told Vieira. “I’ve known all of those involved in this terrible tragedy. I’ve known them all of my life.”
Trail of terror
The bloodshed began when McLendon burned down his mother’s house in Kinston, according to Coffee County coroner Robert Preachers. Authorities found Lisa McLendon’s body inside, but they had not determined how she died or whether she was a victim of her son's spree.
McLendon then drove a dozen miles southeast to Samson, in Geneva County, where he took down nine victims, including four members of his own family. The rampage ended another 12 miles farther east in Geneva at the metals plant where McLendon had once worked. After a shootout with police, McLendon killed himself.
Investigators declined to comment on a motive for the shootings, in which at least four other people were injured, including a child. The victims' names have not been released.
After McLendon burned down his mother’s home, he shot and killed five people on one porch and a 74-year-old woman next door in Samson, said Kirke Adams, district attorney for Geneva and Dale counties. Four of the six killed were members of McLendon's family.
Preachers had said McLendon’s victims included his grandparents. But Adams said the 74-year-old victim might have been McLendon's great-aunt.
Two unrelated victims were the wife and 18-month-old child of a Geneva County sheriff's deputy. They had stopped by the home to visit.
‘Sprayed bullets’
McLendon then drove around Samson, shooting out his car window, killing three more people seemingly at random.
“He sprayed bullets through the town,” Adams said.
One woman was struck down as she walked out of a gas station. Another man was driving. Another man was shot as he tried to run away.
“In a cowardly act, he shot him in the back,” Adams said.
McLendon fired several shots at a Wal-Mart store in Geneva. No one was killed, but it was unclear if anyone was injured.
“There’s a lot of people who had close calls,” Adams said.
Samson contractor Greg McCullough said he was pumping fuel at the gas station when the gunman roared into the parking lot and slammed on his brakes.
“I first thought it was somebody playing,” McCullough said. Then he saw the rifle.
McLendon opened fire, killing the woman who walked outside and wounding McCullough with bullet fragments that struck his truck and the pump. At one point the rifle appeared to jam, then McLendon fired more shots before driving off.
Police pursued McLendon to Geneva’s Reliable Metal Products, where he got out of his car and fired at police with his automatic weapon, wounding Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey. He then walked inside and killed himself.
“He had plenty of ammo in his car and other weapons and he appeared to be going to do some damage there,” Adams said.
There had recently been layoffs at the plant, but it was not immediately known if McLendon was among those losing their jobs. A person who answered the phone at the plant said no one could talk about the shooting.
“What I’m focusing on is people here in the town, making sure they feel comfortable,” said King, who added the town opened a crisis center at the First Baptist Church with counselors available. “I’ve lived here 44 years and never, never dreamed of this happening.”
State Rep. Warren Beck, a Republican whose office is near the Wal-Mart, said his secretary heard gunfire everywhere.
“This is one of the most tragic events ever in Geneva County,” he said.