A lone shooter went on a shooting rampage at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday that ended with at least 10 people dead. Michael McLendon, 28, shot his mother Lisa McLendon at the home they shared in Kinston and then torched the house, where police found her body along with those of three family dogs.
The shooter then traveled to Samson driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse heavily stocked with ammunition, where he took the lives of his grandmother, two cousins and an uncle. He also killed the wife and a toddler of a sheriff’s deputy. A second child, a four month old baby was airlifted to an area hospital in critical condition.
The area is 15 miles north of the Florida border. Samson, population 2,000 and Geneva, population 4,400, are located 11 miles apart.
McLendon, using a semi automatic weapon, left that location and randomly shot at Wal-Mart shopper. When police caught up with him, he fired seven bullets into a state trooper vehicle, resulting in an injury to the trooper. Police Chief Frankie Lindsey also received a shoulder wound in an exchange of gun fire with the assailant.
The shooter went on to kill a woman at The Big Little Store and a man at Pipe and Supply before driving to Reliable Metal Products north of Geneva. He fired a burst of 30 rounds with an M-16 into the building before entering the facility and shooting himself.
Investigators, while searching the shooters home, found several lists with the names of relatives and business acquaintances, along with past grievances.
Another photos below and video.