Ex-Marine accused of killing four
A former U.S. Marine sharpshooter arrested Sunday for the shooting deaths of four strangers near Lakeland — including a mother and a 3-month-old baby in her arms — told Polk County authorities that he was following instructions of voices in his head, according to an arrest affidavit.
A judge on Monday ordered Bryan Riley, 33, to be held without bond in the Polk County Jail on four counts of first-degree murder.
Riley’s fiancée told police that he had been acting strange over the past week after he came home from a security detail at an Orlando church, according to the affidavit. Authorities did not identify the church. Riley, who was honorably discharged, served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2008 to 2010.
At a press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Riley, designated a sharpshooter by the Marine Corps, shot 40-year-old Justice Gleason; a 33-yearold woman and her baby boy; and a 62-year-old woman hiding in a closet who begged him, “Please, no. Please, no.” Judd said an 11-year-old girl also was shot seven times but is expected to recover following surgery at Tampa General Hospital.
The sheriff said Riley had “zero connection” to the people he is accused of killing. Judd declined to name the other victims, citing Florida’s 2018 Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved constitutional amendment, which allows crime victims to shield their name and personal information from the public.
“He was evil in the flesh,”
Judd said of Riley, who worked as a bodyguard and security for ESS Global Corp.
Judd said Riley admitted he shot the victims, who are related, as they were pleading for their lives.
The sheriff said Riley also told authorities he had taken methamphetamine.
Asked why he shot the baby, Riley told deputies, “... because I’m a sick guy. I want to confess to all of it and be sent to jail,” the affidavit alleges.
Riley also shot and killed the victims’ pet dog named Diogi, Judd said.
The sheriff said the incident began Saturday night when deputies received a call around 7:30 p.m. about a suspicious man who investigators identified as Riley in a vehicle near North Socrum Loop Road.
The caller said Riley pulled up in his vehicle and said, “God sent me here to speak with one of your daughters, Amber.”
No one named “Amber” was there but Riley would not leave, Judd said.
Investigators believe he then approached Gleason, who was outside mowing his lawn.
“I’m here to talk to Amber,” Riley told him, according to Judd. “God sent me here because she’s going to commit suicide.”
Gleason and the 33-yearold female victim told Riley there was nobody named “Amber” there and that he should leave before they called law enforcement, the sheriff said. Deputies were then summoned and searched the area but did not find Riley. Judd said, about nine hours later, around 4:30 a.m., a Polk County lieutenant who was nearby heard volleys of automatic gunfire coming from the area of the original call.