VA - Shooting Rampage, Appomattox, Christopher Speight, 17-19 Jan 2010

[PrayersForMaura]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100120/ap_on_re_us/us_appomattox_shootings_47

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A market owner says the gunman suspected of killing eight people in Virginia is a "really nice fella" who worried the sister and brother-in-law he lived with were going to kick him out of the house.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Here is a tribute page to one of the girls who among the tragically murdered:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Emily-Quarles/294263931130?ref=search&sid=589254750.197059989..1

She was a friend to the gunman's niece. This victim's mom and dad were murdered as well as her boyfriend when dropping her off to the niece's house.

She has a sister and two brothers who are still living

Prayers for them, who lost their sister and their parents.

 

[Cerenity2u]

Thank you so much Missizzy, we will be fine here. The people here are good people and will bond together to get the victims family and friends through this horrible ordeal {{hugs}}

Yes, apparently he was very close to his mother and had a horrible time dealing with her sickness and her death, maybe to the point of driving him to severe mental illness. When we ever dealt with him though, he was very friendly and seemed just fine..would never have guessed there was another side to him. We of course only dealt with him on occasion, not enough to know that other side of him. He very well could be schizophrenic, and his behaviors described by those who knew him, support it. It's all so bizarre and unreal.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for the victims families and our community, you all are very much appreciated {{{Hugs}}}

Joe--At first I thought so too, when I heard about the planting of bombs but maybe not. The descriptions of him are sounding very much like paranoid schizophrenia. He wouldn't be the first to put a lot of work into highly detailed preparations. One local said he was "nice" and others have heard him arguing and acting wacko about the government. He's sounding off his rocker to me....and/or his meds.

Cerenity--Please take care of yourself and hold your loved ones close. This is very traumatic, especially hearing the explosions. You must be mentally exhausted. Just be tender with yourself.

You mentioned that Speight went "downhill" after his Mom died. Were they especially close? The reason I ask is that grief over the death or loss of a loved one is so often the trigger to violence or suicide in those who are seriously mentally ill.

Take care. (((hugs)))

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Some reporter keeps posting on her memorial page that he wants to talk to the victims' friends for a "story" and he keeps leaving his number.

How rude and insensitive!

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Victim Bo S's tribute page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Bo-Scruggs/263705781289?ref=mf#wall


Victim and niece of the killer's tribute page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Morgan-Dobyns/428953720250?ref=mf#wall

 

[PrayersForMaura]

3 victims:

MD, EQ and BS

This picture was posted on their tribute page on Facebook

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Victim, LSD ... mother to MD, sister of shooter

She is gorgeous.

This picture was copied from LSD's facebook page.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

victims ..

JQ, EQ and KQ

Reposted from the victim's Facebook Memorial page

 

[fran]

This is truly sad. Such young, vibrant people, all gone for no good reason.

My prayers for all their friends and family and the whole community.

So many at once. I can't believe it.

fran

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Friends Shed Light on Christopher Speight

The co-owner of the Sunshine Market II, Connie Anderson, calls Speight her favorite security guard, and said “He just wouldn't go out and do this."

Store workers tell us he changed two years ago after his mother died of brain cancer. More recently, they say he told them his sister was trying to kick him out of the house they co-owned.

"Chris felt like they were trying to get him out of that house, they wanted the house to themselves," Anderson said.

"Personally, I think he felt very threatened by that because it was set up the way he wanted," Anderson said.

Still, Snow says he can't believe anything could push Speight that far.

"Chris is a very fine human being and unfortunately people don't remember all of the good things we do, just the bad things," he said.

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0110/697976.html?ref=rs&cmpid=rss_news_697976

 

[PrayersForMaura]

"
This all started at noon Tuesday with the discovery of a man lying in the middle of Snapps Mill Road in Appomattox County.
"You could hear him moaning, and we could see him breathing. But that was about it," says Tammy Lee Randolph.
Tammy Lee Randolph and her mother were the ones who found the man as they drove along route 703.
The injured man was airlifted to Lynchburg General Hospital where he died.
The sheriff's deputy who'd answered the call reported hearing gunfire.


"


http://www.wdbj7.com/global/story.asp?s=11854129

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Some pictures from Yahoo news: http://news.search.yahoo.com/search...ight&c=&ei=UTF-8&datesort=1&fr=moz35&c=images

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Speight, who was jailed while awaiting charges, co-owned and lived in the home where some of the bodies were found.
Reporters were allowed to see the home Wednesday. The two-story house had a big patio, where there was furniture, a children's bicycle and a plastic basketball hoop. The yard was landscaped and well-manicured.
Neighbor Monte W. Mays said Speight's mother deeded the house to Speight and his sister in 2006, shortly before she died of brain cancer.
Mays, the county's retired commissioner of accounts, said Speight was a good neighbor. They waved as they passed each other on the road and sent their dogs out to play with one another.
"All the dealings I've ever had with him have been cordial and polite," Mays said. "We got along fine."
Speight long had been a gun enthusiast and enjoyed target shooting at a range on his property, Mays said. But the shooting recently became a daily occurrence, with Speight firing what Mays said were high-powered and automatic rifles.
"Then we noticed he was doing it at nighttime," and the gunfire started going deeper into the woods, Mays said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100120/ap_on_re_us/us_appomattox_shootings_51

 

[PrayersForMaura]

There's conflicting stories going around regarding who are the unnamed two victims of the 8.

Some rumors have mentioned that it was the shooter's nephew (3 or 4 years old) and his brother-in-law, but someone else posted on a forum that it was the brother-in-law and his father.

The news keeps reporting all of the victims were adults (I guess they count mid-teens as adults). I am not sure if LSD's young son (MD's brother) was among the victim's or not.

This is very sad. Beautiful, good people with much living ahead of them stripped of their lives, and all the wounded he's left behind ... these victims were sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers aunts, uncles ... their loved ones' lives are ripped upside down.

If only the Q family had shown up later or not gone at all, would they have been spared? The "ifs" and "woulda coulda shoulda"s are overwhelming.
So many innocent victims here.

This Chris character couldn't have been motivated by greed ... could he have? Was it about the house being of sentimental value to him since his mother lived there? Was he schizophrenic, manic, depressed? Why shoot all of these innocent people.
If it's the house he wanted to keep so badly, now he's never going to get to stay there.
So stupid and senseless.

If he would've stopped and though about what he was going to do, he should've been able to see that this wasn't going to get him anywhere and it was wrong, taking innocent lives. No house or piece of property is worth what he did. People are our most valuable treasures. Why don't we value people more?
Not "we" as in us, here .... but "we" the people ... our society.

It's crazy. Doesn't make any sense.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

The only thing I can tell you about that situation is by what everyone is saying and it's just a little confusing. Apparently one wanted to sell the property and the other did not want to sell...we are hearing mixed info. about who wanted what. From what we are hearing now, they had a huge argument about it over this Past weekend. It sounds like this guy had some other issues brewing too. Not stable at all.

Thank you Cerenity.

Headline News stated that there were parties going on there lately and gunfire could be heard deep in the woods late at night.

Was this guy a partier or was that his sister and her family?

Such a senseless crime. Nothing is every solved by violence.

imo

 

[oceanblueeyes]

So he didnt have a wife nor children?

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0110/697976.html?ref=rs&cmpid=rss_news_697976

The Appomattox County Commonwealth Attorney's Office has yet to set a court date for Speight. We're told he could be placed on the docket Thursday. We've also learned the 39-year-old Speight has never married and does not have children.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

So he didnt have a wife nor children?

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0110/697976.html?ref=rs&cmpid=rss_news_697976

The Appomattox County Commonwealth Attorney's Office has yet to set a court date for Speight. We're told he could be placed on the docket Thursday. We've also learned the 39-year-old Speight has never married and does not have children.

Initially there was rumor on the chat boards that he killed his wife and child, but they were actually his sister and niece.
All news stories I have seen today list him as never married with no children.
He was living with his sister, brother in law, niece and nephew.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Initially there was rumor on the chat boards that he killed his wife and child, but they were actually his sister and niece.
All news stories I have seen today list him as never married with no children.
He was living with his sister, brother in law, niece and nephew.

Thank you.

They both were actually living in the house that he and his sister inherited from their mother, right?

I wonder if he had lived there most of his life with his mother before she passed away?

imo

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Some new info in this story but not a lot:

"As of late Wednesday, bomb squads had found and detonated seven explosives. The blasting was expected to continue into Thursday."

and
"Speight, who was jailed while awaiting charges, co-owned and lived in the home where some of the bodies were found.
Reporters were allowed to see the home Wednesday. The two-story house had a big patio, where there was furniture, a children's bicycle and a plastic basketball hoop. The yard was landscaped and well-manicured.
Neighbour Monte W. Mays said Speight's mother deeded the house to Speight and his sister in 2006, shortly before she died of brain cancer."


http://news.therecord.com/article/659674

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Thank you.

They both were actually living in the house that he and his sister inherited from their mother, right?


imo

I believe that is correct. In the story I posted above, it does mention what you wrote .... they were both living in the house that their mother deeded to them, so he and his sister were co-owners.

I did read their mother's obituary and when the mother died in Dec 2006, his sister and her former husband were mentioned in the obit.
I'm guessing -- and not that this matters, but just for clarification --
that Chris's sister divorced and remarried, which is why her new last name is Dobyns. And from what I've read, there's a little boy involved, 3 or 4 years who is the son of Chris's sister, Lauralee.
Not sure if she had him with her previous husband or current husband (Mr. Dobyns). Again, not important, but it could help with knowing his name (Whether his last name is Sipes or Dobyns... I'm guessing it's Dobyns since Morgan's is Dobyns and she is his big sister).

If anyone can clarify, that would be good. I don't was to post any incorrect info...