Man in Florida shoots dead daughter, six grandchildren and himself

A grandfather shot and killed his daughter and her six young children before killing himself at his home in north-central Florida yesterday, authorities said. Don Charles Spirit (62) called the police about 4pm and indicated that he planned to harm himself and others, a sheriff said.

After exchanging words with a deputy at the scene, Spirit killed himself, the sheriff said. Inside the home in Bell the police found the bodies of Spirit, his daughter Sarah Lorraine Spirit (28) and her six children aged from two months to 11 years. The sheriff said some people there were left alive but he did not give details. He said Spirit had a criminal history and deputies had been called to the home for “a wide range of things”.

Spirit pleaded guilty to a felony firearms violation in 2003, after he accidentally shot and killed his 8-year-old son during a hunting expedition in 2001, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

He was sentenced to three years in prison. – New York Times