A man dressed in full body armor and carrying an automatic rifle went on a shooting rampage Sunday in Polk County, Florida killing four people including an infant.
Authorities have identified the shooter as Bryan Riley, a 33-year-old former Marine sharpshooter.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said officers were initially called to the homes near Lakeland, Florida, about 35 miles east of Tampa on Saturday after a woman reported that a strange man was parked near her residence who allegedly told her he was there because God sent him to speak with one of her daughters.
When deputies responded to call, the man was nowhere to be seen, ABC News reports. Officers searched for 22 minutes but were unable to find the vehicle or the strange man.
He returned around 4:30 am Sunday morning. A sheriff’s lieutenant close to the home heard automatic gunfire, responded to the scene and requested backup.
According to Sheriff Judd, when officers arrived they saw a truck on fire and a man “totally outfitted in body armor and looked as if he was ready to engage us all in an active shooter situation.”
Judd said the suspect retreated into the house when he saw the cops and deputies immediately heard another volley of automatic gunfire that was followed by “a woman screaming and a baby whimpering.”
Officers tried to enter the home through the front door but it was barricaded. They gained entry through the backdoor and was “immediately confronted” by the suspect.
After the shooting subsided, the suspect surrendered to police. He was shot once in the encounter.
Officers entered the home and found an 11-year-old girl with at least seven gunshot wounds. She was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, where she was undergoing surgery Sunday morning and is expected to survive, according to ABC News.
Officers on the scene sent a robot into the home because they feared it was booby-trapped. When the house was cleared, they found three people fatally shot. The first victim was identified as 40-year-old Justice Gleason, an unidentified 33-year-old woman was also killed along with the 3-month-old infant she was holding in her arms. Riley also allegedly killed the family dog.
The fourth victim was the 62-year-old grandmother of the baby. She was killed in a nearby house on the same property.
Riley told officers he had taken methamphetamine. He was taken to the hospital for treatment for his injuries.
Sheriff Judd said in the hospital he tried to grab an officer’s weapon and had to be given medication to render him “unable to fight any longer and they could continue to treat him.”
According to the Hill, Riley served four years in the Marines in Afghanistan and Iraq before he was honorably discharged. He currently works as a security guard. His girlfriend told police that he suffers from PTSD but was non-violent.
Last Sunday he provided security for a church in Orlando and told his girlfriend that he could directly communicate with God when he returned home.
