Parents of 15-year-old US mass shooting suspect ‘overcome with grief’ after 5 people killed in his Florida school rampage
The two students were found dead in the school’s auditorium and three more were killed in a hallway
Their father is a former federal prosecutor who had become estranged from their mother
He was reportedly troubled by his work, and had sought counseling for ‘narcissism, and self-doubt’
Family spokesman Joe Berardi called him ‘a victim of violent extremism’
Family lawyer says father was working ‘under the radar’
Florida shootings: A mother, two daughters and a 12-year-old boy were killed
The mother, two daughters and a 12-year-old boy were all killed as a gunman opened fire in a Florida high school on Wednesday morning, leaving 17 people injured in what authorities are calling a ‘domestic terrorism incident’.
A father, 35, is accused of killing his ex-wife, 43, his 12-year-old daughter, 8, and his ex-girlfriend, 20, and also injured 17 people.
His son, 15, is the suspected gunman and the suspected shooter had been arrested by police just hours before the shooting.
The father’s motive is unclear, but his estranged wife, who lives in a nearby town, was in court Tuesday in a hearing on child support.
‘He never wanted children,’ his lawyer, Joe Berardi, said of the father in a statement from the family. ‘He has suffered from the loss of his wife, but not in a way that we ever thought would be the result of the divorce.’
Berardi added: ‘The school in Broward County chose to hide their records of him due to the ex-wife’s concerns.’
What we know about the Florida shootings
The mass shooting began in the Florida high school library and left at least 17 dead in an auditorium
The suspect was identified as a Florida man named Michael Dunn
There were conflicting reports that the suspect, a teacher at the school, was a former Marine; a police spokesman said he had no military experience
The man was killed after shooting at people in the school
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the suspect was identified