KALEB, KYLIE and JOHNATHON KUHLMANN; DESTINY, BRANDON, and ALANNA STEWART (and mother, Sarah Spirit) - 11, 9, 8, 5, 4, yo and 2 months (9/14) - / Shooter: Grandfather, Donald C. Spirit - Bell, FL

Six children, two adults dead in mass shooting near Gainesville




By David Harris

Report: Mass shooting in north Florida

A 51-year-old man shot his daughter and six grandchildren to death before turning the gun on himself at a home in Bell, authorities said Thursday.

The gunman was identified as Donald C. Spirit, who called 911 before shooting himself, officials.

Deputies received the call about 4 p.m. and found all eight people dead inside the home, said Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz III.

The victims were not identified. The children ranged in age from 3 months to 10 years old, said Schultz.




Don Spirit (Florida Department of Corrections)


Bell is a small town of several hundred people about 35 miles west of Gainesville.

"This is a small county. We're all family here," Schultz said."We will continue to be family and we will work through this."

No motive was given for the shooting.

Schultz said Spirit had a criminal record and deputies have been called out to the home before but did not provide details.

This is a breaking news story. Come back for more details.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-bell-murder-suicide-children-20140918-story.html

Apparent Murder-Suicide Leaves Six Children, Two Adults Dead in Small Florida Town


Sep. 18, 2014 7:53pm  


UPDATE — 8:40 p.m. ET: Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz confirmed that eight individuals are dead, including six children, following an apparent murder-suicide in Bell, Florida.

A man identified as Don Spirit shot his daughter and six grandchildren before dialing 911, Schultz said. After being confronted by authorities, the man, who had a criminal history, committed suicide.

The ages of the deceased children range from three-months-old to 10-years-old.
Schultz said the small town will come together in the days ahead and work through the tragic events as one.

“We’re all family here,” he said. “There are certain things in life that you can explain, there are certain things you can’t. This is not one that I can explain.”

“If I didn’t have a doubt about anything else is that this community will come together and we will continue to be a family — we will work through this,” he added.



http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/09/18/multiple-feared-dead-after-mass-shooting-in-florida-reports/

Updated: 11:28 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 | Posted: 6:29 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014
Grandfather kills daughter, her 6 children in Bell,

- See more at: http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/news/murder-suicide-bell-six-people-reportedly-dead/nhQJz/#sthash.KQHYGjtY.dpuf

FCITC people, why can't they just off themselves and leave the innocent ones
to live?      A not-mother from my college classes
did this to her two teen daughters and then killed herself.    Maybe she should
have asked if *they* would have preferred to live before she shot them in the
head!   I'm sure this daughter and her six children would have had wanted a
chance to choose to live, too.     If it weren't by gun,
they would have surely found another weapon to kill with, but why couldn't they just
use their weapon of choice on themselves?  


 

Terribly sad. Only thing I can think of is they were living with him, he supports them and he found out she was having another baby.

Don't really know the circumstances on this one but even if he was fed up with the mother how anyone, no matter how evil, can shoot children (and a three month old) is beyond understanding.

Maybe the situation was horrible, but he still could have chosen to walk away instead
of slaughtering them all.      Imagine the terror of the young ones as he made his
way around shooting each of them in turn.    

Agreed, he could have, should have walked away.

Grandfather who gunned down six grandchildren and his daughter previously killed his eight-year-old son
Sep 19th 2014 8:12AM

It has been revealed that the gunman behind a mass shooting Thursday in Florida previously killed his son in a hunting accident and reportedly suffered mental health problems.

Grandfather Don Spirit, 51, reportedly gunned down his adult daughter and her six children inside his Bell home, Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz said in a Thursday evening press conference. Local media is reporting the other adult victim is 28-year-old Sarah Spirit, but he declined to confirm.

The deceased children are reported by WESH to be: Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11, Kylie Kuhlmann, 9, Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8, Destiny Stewart, 5, Brandon Stewart, 4, and Alanna Stewart, 3 months.

"There's still a lot of unanswered questions. There's going to be questions that we're never going to get answered," said Schultz.
Donald Spirit was previously convicted in a felony drug case and also pleaded guilty to a gun possession charge after accidentally killing his eight-year-old son in a hunting accident, authorities said.

"It all happened so quickly," the crying man told the Tampa Bay Times during his trial, according to the Miami Herald.

The ex-con's rifle fired as he was pointing out rust on the barrel November 14, 2001, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The boy was struck in the head.

Donald Spirit revealed to the paper during the subsequent trial that he suffered from mental health problems and also had concerns his medication was insufficient.

"The medication, I've tried it. It ain't working," Spirit told the Sentinel during a 2003 interview. "The one medicine I have is my family."

Donald Spirit called 911 around 4:00 p.m. and "made reference to harming people and himself," Schultz said. He committed suicide shortly after deputies arrived on the scene.

First responders found a horrific scene when they arrived: Seven dead bodies strewn "all over the property," according to Schultz.

"I haven't handled something like this at all, to say that this county, this community is not going to be devastated by this... There are certain things in life you can explain, and there are some things you can't," Schultz lamented, looking down as if trying to come to grips with the carnage.

"We'll get through this, but I continue to ask everybody to pray for those involved," he added.

The Thursday afternoon incident began as a domestic dispute, but it is not known what triggered the confrontation. Also not clear is what type of gun was used in the mass shooting.

"It started out as a family dispute and escalated," a law enforcement source previously told AOL News.

Donald Spirit has a criminal record, Schultz said, but declined to confirm his previous charges. Deupites had been to the trailer home multiple times in the past, he added.

HIllsborough County Court records revealed more than a half dozen other charges ranging from battery to depriving a child of food/shelter and DUI.

His most recent prison stint was in 2009.

"I may not have lived the best life," he previously told the Times.

Methamphetamine is also reportedly "a problem" in the trailer home where Donald Spirit lives.

State court records list him as an indigent for defaulting in 2009 on a $180 misdemeanor court fee.

Bell is about 40 miles northwest of Gainesville. The town has a population of nearly 400 people.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/09/18/mass-shooting-florida-six-children-eight-people-dead-donald-spirit/20964648/

ladibug wrote:Terribly sad. Only thing I can think of is they were living with him, he supports them and he found out she was having another baby.

Don't really know the circumstances on this one but even if he was fed up with the mother how anyone, no matter how evil, can shoot children (and a three month old) is beyond understanding.

The scuttlebutt is, he was living with her.  The state was supporting her and her children.  Why in the world would a woman keep spitting out babies she was ill equipped to support or care for?

Perhaps because of his drug use, she was fed up with him and booting him out?

He picked those kids up from the school bus (they usually walked home) so this was a planned event.

It is devastating.  WTF didn't he just off himself and leave those precious children alone?

This scenario boggles the mind.

I'm wondering if the killing of his 8 year old son was an accident or a murder he got away with.

My children knew several of the murdered children and they are having a hard time dealing with this.

WTF is wrong with these people that they feel free to murder innocent children.  Delightful, inquisitive, loving, happy children?

May God be with this famil and the friends and loved ones of all the dead, slaughtered children.

twinkletoes wrote:I'm wondering if the killing of his 8 year old son was an accident or a murder he got away with.

My children knew several of the murdered children and they are having a hard time dealing with this.

WTF is wrong with these people that they feel free to murder innocent children.  Delightful, inquisitive, loving, happy children?

May God be with this famil and the friends and loved ones of all the dead, slaughtered children.

Oh no!!!!  What a cruel situation for your kids.   I pray they can find peace.      We don't know them, but my dh thinks he may have seen the guy before somewhere... which could be anywhere around here as people travel long distances in this area.    Plus, Bell has a total of about 350 population it said on the news.      I was thinking the same thing about the 8 year-old.      

911 call from Bell grandfather: 'They're all dead'
Florida Department of Children and Families

Author: Heather Leigh, Mobile journalist, hleigh@wjxt.com
Adrienne Moore, Weekend anchor, reporter, amoore@wjxt.com
Published On: Sep 23 2014 08:13:56 AM EDT  
Updated On: Sep 23 2014 06:51:09 PM EDT

Bell, FL - With an edgy yet calm voice, Donald Spirit told a 911 dispatcher in Gilchrist County last Thursday afternoon that he had just killed his six grandchildren, including a baby, and would wait until authorities arrived before going to his back porch and killing himself.

The Sheriff's Office on Tuesday made public that phone call.

"I just shot my daughter and shot all my grandkids and I'll be sitting on my step, so when you get here I'm going to shoot myself," Spirit calmly told the 911 operator. "Every one of them are dead."

"What kind of gun do you have?" the dispatcher asked.

"Doesn't matter what kind of gun I have, they're all dead," Spirit said. "When you get here I'll shoot myself and you'll figure out what kind of gun it is."

When deputies arrived on scene, they had a brief verbal exchange with Spirit before he shot himself, according to the Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office.

A preliminary autopsy showed all the victims were killed with a .45-caliber handgun, which was recovered from the scene.

LISTEN: Don Spirit's 911 call (Note: graphic content, offensive language)
READ: Transcript of Don Spirit's 911 call

All of the children were found inside the home. Spirit's daughter was found outside.

"As of this time, no clear or definitive motive can be determined," the Sheriff's Office said in a statement released Tuesday morning.

Spirit was a convicted felon, and federal, state and local law enforcement authorities are investigating how he may have obtained the firearm.

In a private ceremony Monday, the family gathered at Wayfair Cemetery, just north of Bell, to bury 28-year-old Sarah Lorraine Spirit and her six children; Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11; Kylie Kuhlmann, 9; Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8; Destiny Stewart, 5; Brandon Stewart, 4; and 2½-month-old Alanna Stewart.

Flowers were placed on the children's graves. A neighbor on the same street fought back tears as she told News4Jax she's devastated by the news, and used to see the kids walking home from school.

"This tragic and devastating event may never be fully explained. We would continue to ask everyone to keep the victims' family, friends, classmates and the community of Bell, Florida, in their thoughts and prayers," the statement read.

Documents showed that the Florida Department of Children and Families had offered services to Sarah Spirit at least three times in the last few years.

DOCUMENT: DCF initial incident report on Spirit family homicides

State child welfare officials said Monday most recently investigated after someone called the Department of Children and Families abuse hotline Sept. 1 saying that adults were using drugs in front of the children.

DCF said Sarah Spirit told investigators she had tested positive for drugs and was arrested for violating probation. When she was released, Spirit and the children went to live with her father.

A police report from 2008 also showed that Sarah Spirit had reported being beaten by her father when she was 36 weeks pregnant.

Reports from DCF also documented an incident in 2013 when Don Spirit hit one of his grandchildren with a belt, causing bruising.

DCF officials told News4Jax they are working to put together a timeline of investigations at the family home and documents it can release on the incidents. The Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office was also working on a list of calls for service at that address, but it was not ready by Tuesday afternoon.

Roy Miller, president of The Children's Campaign, said the state has failed too many times over the years in gruesome child abuse deaths.

"We need systemic change to how we do investigations," said Miller, whose group unsuccessfully pushed the Legislature this year to transfer investigations to local sheriff departments on a voluntary basis. Currently, sheriff's agencies handle child abuse investigations in only six of Florida's 67 counties.

"Had a sheriff's investigator showed up ... we believe the sheriff's department would have been better informed and possibly more aggressive."

DCF's regional managing director Dennis Miles said Tuesday that there appeared to be several red flags but that the agency needs to look deeper at what happened.

After the slayings, a team of staffers was sent to investigate, per state protocol.

Miles said the team will look at previous interactions with the family, and "find out what went right, what went wrong and kind of give us some answers. Right now we don't have answers.

Asked Tuesday if he was satisfied with how DCF handled the case, Gov. Rick Scott said: "Right now we ought to be praying for the family and we ought to be doing all we can for the survivors in that community, but do exactly what we’re doing … a thorough investigation to understand what happened because we don’t ever want this to happen in our state again."

http://www.news4jax.com/news/sheriffs-office-releasing-information-on-murdersuicide/28200906