Florida gunman kills four, including mom still holding baby
11-year-old girl who was shot seven times survives
Bryan Riley, a former Marine who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, seemed to have targeted his victims at random and appeared to be suffering from mental health issues
Aman wearing full body armour fatally shot four people, including a mother and the 3-month-old baby she was cradling, and engaged in a massive gunfight with police and deputies before he was wounded and surrendered, a Florida sheriff said Sunday. An 11-year-old girl who was shot seven times survived.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference that even after 33-year-old Bryan Riley was arrested on Sunday morning, he was so aggressive that he tried to wrestle a gun from police.
Former Marine
Judd said Riley, a former Marine who served as a sharpshooter in both Iraq and Afghanistan, seemed to have targeted his victims at random and appeared to be suffering from mental health issues. Judd said Riley’s girlfriend told authorities Riley had been slowly unravelling for weeks and repeatedly told her that he could communicate directly with God.
“They begged for their lives and I killed them anyway,’’ Judd said Riley told them during an interrogation.
Investigators said preliminary evidence shows 40-year-old Justice Gleason just happened to be an unlucky stranger out mowing his lawn on Saturday night when Riley drove by his home in Lakeland, saying God told him to stop because Gleason’s daughter was going to commit suicide.
A second, unidentified person also confronted Riley, telling him that story wasn’t true and warned they’d call police if he didn’t leave, Judd said. Authorities responded to the scene but never found Riley.
About nine hours later, around 4.30am, Riley returned to the home. Randomly, a lieutenant far in the distance heard popping noises and immediately put the agency on activeshooter mode. Authorities arrived at the home and found Riley’s white truck ablaze and an unarmed Riley outside, dressed in camouflage.
Riley ran inside, where authorities heard another round of gunfire, “a woman scream and a baby whimper,’’ Judd said. Authorities exchanged heavy gunfire before Riley retreated back into the home.
Everything fell silent, Judd said, until a helicopter unit alerted authorities on the ground that Riley was coming out. He had been shot once and was ready to surrender.
Deputies sent robots into the home to check for explosives and other traps. When it was clear, they found the bodies of Gleason, the 33-year-old mother, the baby and the baby’s 62-year-old grandmother.