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From usatoday.com: “Several news organizations are reporting a multiple shooting in Bell, Fla., and WCJB in Gainesville confirms that there have been deaths. Six children are among the dead, the Gilchrist County Journal reported on its Facebook page, and the Gainesville Sun tweeted that two adults and six children are dead in the incident.” Very little is known at this point though there are multiple reports that the shooting was a murder-suicide. For more we turn to CNN . . .

Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Robert Schultz identified the shooter as Don Spirit, 51.

The sheriff told reporters the children ranged in age from 3 months to 10 years. He didn’t name the daughter or the grandchildren because not every relative had been notified of their deaths.

Schultz said Spirit, who called 911 around 4 p.m., killed himself after a deputy arrived on the scene.

Deputies had previously responded to calls from the home, owned by Spirit, on “numerous” occasions, officials said. Spirit had a criminal history, Schultz said.

[via CNN]

[h/t Cade in Jax]

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74 COMMENTS

  1. Sad for the kids.
    But here we go again.
    No facts yet and on the tube plenty of conjecture already.
    Oh boy. Round and round it goes………

  2. So far it sounds like it could be an elementary school, maybe a copycat of Sandy Hook. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for the media to give that a-hole so much attention.

    • The lamestream so-called “news” media intentionally turns psychopaths into overnight celebrities. “If it bleeds, it leads” has been their de facto motto since the 1980s. Tragedies like this enables their exploitation of the situation and the people involved, all to increase their bottom line.

      It’s no wonder they’re for gun control, either, with this in mind. Especially given the concrete fact that, on the whole, the lamestream so-called “news” media stumps for gun control at an 8:1 ratio instead of rightly defying and denouncing it (and everyone who advocates it). Gun control absolutely assures zero effective resistance and thus more innocent blood for them to write their headlines with.

      If anyone profits from slaughter, it’s the so-called “news” networks. Period.

      Depraved, blood-dancing mongrel bigots. Every last goddamn one of them.

      • Wow. I had never put it together that way. That’s disturbing.

        I had always attributed the media’s love of gun control as just part of an overall Statist ideology. I guess I wanted to give them that much of a benefit of doubt.

        That way to look at it is…disturbing. Part of what is creepy is that I can’t say, “Aw, man, that’s just nuts.” It’s plausible. And the plausibility itself is pretty weird to think about.

      • Lotta vitriol in your post, and every ounce of it deserved. Well said. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones.

    • “So far it sounds like it could be an elementary school, maybe a copycat of Sandy Hook.”

      I’m wondering where you got that idea. There’s nothing in even the preliminary information that supports that.

      From the CNN quote above…

      “The sheriff told reporters the children ranged in age from 3 months to 10 years.

      …

      Deputies had previously responded to calls from the home, owned by Spirit, on “numerous” occasions, officials said. Spirit had a criminal history, Schultz said.”

      The Sheriff said it was at a home and 3 month olds don’t usually attend elementary schools.

      Blind, wild speculation without facts helps nothing.

      Why the leap to a Sandy Hook reference?

        • I think that entirely depends on what the calls were for.

          I’ve answered 911-HangUp calls because “My [adult] brother would not let me use the remote.” No domestic assault. No crime committed. Just an impulsive call to 911.

          A lot of times, too, cop’s hands are tied in regard to being “proactive.” Sometimes, the only way to be “proactive” is to violate civil rights. Is that where we want them going?

          With hindsight, we can look back and make judgments about what they “could have done.” But that’s generally unfair (I have no idea about this case…I’m making the general case). What did they know at the time? What could they legally (and morally) do?

          After all, how many times have you said, “I wish I had known” when looking back on something after the fact?

  4. Um fox news reported on TV that it was a father wife and 6 kids killed in a “murder suicide”.
    If true how will they blame the gun? No gun they would have used a knife.

    • Yea the article linked mentions murder suicide also, still so sad and so shitty that we will all see their pictures posted up for use by some agenda for weeks to come, if it plays anything like the normal MSM tune.

    • It seems it was a grandfather, who killed his daughter, her children, possibly one visiting child, and then himself.

  7. This is just down the road from me and most definitely not a prank. The local news is actually acting responsibly for a change. I’ll be seeing a local LEO buddy tomorrow and see what he has to say. Bell’s a small town and will really feel this.

  9. Good thing the NSA, DHS and all the other federal agencies mining our data stepped in and stopped things before anyone was hurt.

    Remember, fellas, stopping stuff like this before it happens is the justification for gun control, violations of the 4th A, etc, etc. Good to know the government is all over it.

    Tragic circumstance, but expect the other side of the fence to use it to justify increasing abuses of power.

  10. Murder suicide… Sad, but has nothing to do with guns. The Brady Bunch does not like using domestic incidents as poster children. They tend to get… complicated.

    • Report? No. There’s nothing wrong with reporting immediately.

      That said: I generally hold to a 48-hour rule before analyzing/editorializing on the facts of what is reported.

      (The media and antis, on the other hand, delight in dancing in blood, without bothering to gather/understand all of the facts – in order to push their agenda. So I fully expect them to do so in this instance.)

  12. Another sick, piece of shit coward stealing his children’s lives. These cowardous bastards just need to go out in the woods somewhere and blow their own brains out. They need to leave their families alone.

    • Right, I don’t get if your so unhappy with your life why do you have to involve other people. Have the common courtesy to walk into the woods and off yourself, but first let the authorities nowhere to find you so your family doesn’t have to.

  14. Damn it all….sigh. I was really hoping we could all finish the year off without another story like this. I know that was wishfull thinking, but I couldn’t help it after the uneventful 9/11 anniversary….God speed kids. The big guys arms are open waitin’ for ya…

    • Another failure of gun-control laws.

      People don’t realize that laws don’t “prevent something from happening”… they just punish people after the fact. Most of the laws on the books are just there to control the population and squeeze more revenue out of them.

      He was already a felon, so by law he could not legally possess the hunting rifle that he accidentally shot his son with – but he did. For that he received a 3 year jail sentence and probably a fine of some kind.

      …After getting out of jail was he then “doubly not allowed to own a gun”? Whatever the classification, it didn’t work, as he managed to get another gun and use that to kill his daughter and 6 grandchildren. Who will the Bell, FL district-attorney prosecute now? Maybe they’ll add another law on the books for people like him to ignore.

  19. I`m sure Moms Demand is going to wave the bloody shirt on this one. However if they try to hold rallies in that part of the state, they will get the cold shoulder.

    • The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.

      But this guy was going to pay $24,000 in child support every year for the next 18 years. Regardless of what mom makes or doesn’t make (which is why some single moms like vocations such as stripper or hostess where their income is cash and therefore untraceable). It’s based upon his income.

      He was facing bankruptcy, and indentured servitude for the rest of his life. Mom was facing a piggy bank and never having to work again. She just hooks up with her scumbag boyfriend and cashes checks for the next 18 years.

      Crappy situation, but there you go. People respond to incentives.

      This is 100% because of how family law courts operate in the US. If you are male – never marry. Period.

      Not justifying his actions, blah, blah, but what do they expect?

      • Dude, what are you talking about, with child support and et cetera? The guy was the mother’s father, not her babies’ daddy. I didn’t read anything about this being a child support/custody beef. In fact, I find it impossible anyone could possibly even speculate on that at this point. In any case, it’s not like this guy’s life was all coming up roses being a convicted felon who had at best tragically killed his own son in a fit of stupidity, and was at worst some kind of monster (latter seeming more likely in light of his last act). If you want to blame something for ruining his life, blame the felony pot conviction that began his life of crime (as if that wasn’t his own fault, as well…)

      • Yeah, He was a moronic NRA member who believed that his penis extenders were worth more than the lives of innocent children you moronic twit.

        • Wow…a penis insult! That didn’t take long.

          Boy, when it comes to genetalia insults, the gun grabbers are hard to surpass.

        • Here’s some “cut and paste” for “inert gas”.

          Argon wants to “play Freud”.

          The Freudian symbolism surrounding guns is obvious.

          Men who fear and reject guns as “evil” are fearful of their own masculinity, and reject that masculinity as something “dangerous” which they cannot control. They are symbolically expressing a suppressed desire to be eunuchs, if they cannot be female.

          They often recite the mantra “Guns have only one purpose – to kill”, but they know that is no more true than saying their penis has only one purpose. Aside from the fact it is part of the two-purpose male uro-genital system, it can be used as an instrument of pleasure in love-making, or a tool of defilement and hatred in rape.

          They attempt to deny the fact of that duality, and consider only the perverted “evil” view of the gun/phallic symbol, enhancing the guilt and shame they associate with their masculine nature. It is that masculine nature they fear and hate, and want to purge by becoming a symbolic eunuch. 😉

          “Sometimes a cigar is JUST a cigar.” ——- Sigmund Freud (attributed)

          “No symbols where none intended.” ——- Samuel Beckett

        • Why is we can have discussions without insults but the anti-gun faction cannot? It is simply amazing, and stands as evidence that there is no factual basis to the claims they make.

          To wit:

          “He was a moronic[CitationNeeded] NRA member[CitationNeeded] who believed[CitationNeeded] … you moronic[CitationNeeded] twit.”

          That’s a lot of fail in one claim.

          Good luck with your hatred. I’ve heard professional therapy can help with that sort of thing.

        • He doesn’t actually sound like he can be helped. I hope he is not allowed to own guns! My guess (no citation) is that he is certifiable.

  22. A criminal record, and for gun crimes, no less, as a convicted felon, no less (relating to a fatality, no less). So…probably still a prohibited person. A prohibition that ended up worth less than the paper it was printed on, because he managed to find someone willing to get him a gun. Sadly, nothing could have prevented this; being a family member, it is likely any legal/gun control scenario would have had the family fully disarmed (in the metaphorical if not literal sense) and unready to respond in defense, regardless the tools available. Any blockade of the killer’s methods would have been eventually circumvented, and the result the same.

    “”It’s a tragedy all the way around,” said Mike Saunders, deputy felony bureau chief for the State Attorney’s Office. “But if he had followed the law, and had not possessed a firearm, his child would not be dead.””
    If he had followed the law and not murdered his family, they would not be dead, either. Very tragic.

    • “”It’s a tragedy all the way around,” said Mike Saunders, deputy felony bureau chief for the State Attorney’s Office. “But if he had followed the law, and had not possessed a firearm, his child would not be dead.””

      Why would they not be dead if he did not possess a firearm? Aren’t there many other ways he could have killed them ? What a stupid statement.

    • That quote from the DA is referring to the hunting “accident” years ago where this creep shot his son in the head while, allegedly, pointing out rust on the rifle muzzle. It’s not about what happened yesterday.

  23. More blood on the hands of you gun nut NRA scum who believes your penis extenders are worth more than innocent lives.

    • Argon wants to “play Freud”.

      The Freudian symbolism surrounding guns is obvious.

      Men who fear and reject guns as “evil” are fearful of their own masculinity, and reject that masculinity as something “dangerous” which they cannot control. They are symbolically expressing a suppressed desire to be eunuchs, if they cannot be female.

      They often recite the mantra “Guns have only one purpose – to kill”, but they know that is no more true than saying their penis has only one purpose. Aside from the fact it is part of the two-purpose male uro-genital system, it can be used as an instrument of pleasure in love-making, or a tool of defilement and hatred in rape.

      They attempt to deny the fact of that duality, and consider only the perverted “evil” view of the gun/phallic symbol, enhancing the guilt and shame they associate with their masculine nature. It is that masculine nature they fear and hate, and want to purge by becoming a symbolic eunuch. 😉

      “Sometimes a cigar is JUST a cigar.” ——- Sigmund Freud (attributed)

      “No symbols where none intended.” ——- Samuel Beckett

      • “Men who fear and reject guns as ‘evil’ are fearful of their own masculinity, and reject that masculinity as something ‘dangerous’ which they cannot control. They are symbolically expressing a suppressed desire to be eunuchs, if they cannot be female.”

        I was wondering why he had named himself after an inert gas

        • I’m not a psychiatrist. I don’t even play one on TV. So I won’t relate his screen name to any personal “deficiency” he may have, but “inert gas” is apropos of the nature of his comment.

    • Argon the Antiquarian,
      Now that you’ve gotten that off your chest you should probably let the adults in here talk.

      If you read a bit more and whine a bit less you may learn something.

    • So, Argon, what is the basis of the fascination you seem to have over male genitalia?

      You’re just another run-of-the-mill Euro-Trash POS Leftist.

      Run along, now. The adults are speaking.

  24. TTAG…where you never miss a shooting or accidental discharge. OMG! LOL!

    Seriously guys…do a gun review. Write a story about a defensive gun use. Stop giving attention to cowardly acts like this.

    • “Seriously, guys, stop complaining about editorial content on another man’s web site. Submit a gun review or write an article. Or start your own blog.”

      Is that what you meant to say?

  25. “Spirit had a criminal history, Schultz said.”

    What kind of criminal history? Were they violent crimes? Was he a recidivist felon? Did this man belong behind bars?

    If you’re not responsible enough to own a firearm you don’t belong in public. THAT is the key to “saving the children”. They don’t need saving from an inanimate object, they need protection by us from BAD PEOPLE.

    How is this concept so difficult for the grabbers to grasp(pun intended)?

    • “I bet this also means the anti gun crowd will for the most part gloss this one over.”

      I disagree.

      They will NOT gloss this over on that basis. They will scream about the present laws not going far enough. They’ll claim we need more laws.

      They will possibly find a way to pin it on the “gun show loophole” or perhaps Florida’s SYG, even though neither apply. Maybe their tack will be to pull up UBC’s.

      Did one of the children have some homework in the house? Maybe they will get away with calling it a ‘school shooting.’ It only takes once or twice, and the retraction will never be read. The claim will go ‘viral,’ but the retraction will not. Shoot…look on this page. One of the earliest comments referred to it as a school schooting, for crying out loud!

      If they wave the bloody shirt on this one, it will be no less dishonest than the others. After all, the “pop culture narrative” of other events they use is not exactly square with facts. Why should this one be different?

      • They will ALWAYS claim we need more laws, until all guns are outlawed. They know nothing, yet convince themselves they know everything.

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