[lily.]

Video shows Fla. woman aiming gun at son's head

21 hours ago

CASSELBERRY, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida woman who fatally shot her 20-year-old son then killed herself at a shooting range left recorded messages that said she was the anti-Christ and that she needed to save her son.

In rambling, teary audio recordings left for her boyfriend and authorities, as well as shorter suicide notes, Marie Moore, 44, apologized several times and said repeatedly: "I had to send my son to heaven and myself to Hell."

Authorities said Wednesday they still had no motive for the murder-suicide that shocked fellow customers and employees at the Shoot Straight range in Casselberry, about 10 miles north of Orlando, on Sunday.

"We have no clue. I don't even want to begin to speculate," said Deputy Chief Bill McNeil of the Casselberry Police Department.

The gun range's security video shows 20-year-old Mitchell Moore taking aim at a target in a booth when his mother, 44, walks up behind him and points a gun at the back of his head. In the next frame, the son is seen falling to the ground and a nearby patron appears to alert others as he points to the unseen carnage.

The gun used was rented at the range.

According to a police report, earlier footage from the surveillance video shows the mother and son taking turns shooting and talking with other customers in the adjacent lane. "They seem to be getting along fine," one of the responding officers said.

The son died at the scene. Marie Moore was still alive when officers arrived at the range but later died at a hospital.

Mitchell's father, Charles Moore, told police that Marie Moore had a history of mental illness, had previously attempted suicide and been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in 2002 under the Florida law known as the Baker Act.

Marie Moore refers to the incident in records she left for police and Shoot Straight, saying she spent a year in and out of a "mental home" but insisted: "I'm not sick." Family members found the audio tapes and three suicide notes late Monday and gave them to police.

"I'm sorry to do this in your place of business, but I had to save my son," one message said. "God made me a queen and I failed. I'm a fallen angel. He turned me into the anti-Christ."

Moore said she could have killed only herself but felt she had to "save" her son and do it in a public way so the world could also be saved. "Hopefully when I die, there will 1,000 years of peace."

She apologized to her boyfriend for hiding her plans from him, but added: "You would've Baker Acted me ... and I wouldn't have been able to try to save Mitch."

Larry Anderson, a manager at Shoot Straight, said it's unclear whether the Moores had been to the range before, but they weren't regular customers. The range requires that customers fill out a form with a series of questions, including whether they have ever been convicted of a felony or been declared mentally unstable, but Anderson said they have no way to verify the information.

Anderson defended the range's policies, saying: "If someone acts right, we have to assume they are right."

Based on the writings and audio recordings that he's seen in the media, Anderson said, it's clear that Marie Moore was "bent on doing it."

"Sometimes, like what happens Sunday, you have no control," Anderson said. "There's nothing you can do to prevent it."

Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Kristen Perezluha said criminal histories are available online for a $24 fee, but that ranges are not required to run background checks on customers. Mental health histories are not publicly available because of patient privacy laws, Perezluha said.

Working numbers for Moore's family members could not be found. According to the police report, Moore's son lived in an apartment with his girlfriend and was due to have dinner with his father the day he died.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source

[Lauren]

I read this story yesterday. I wonder why she wasn't getting any serious help for an obvious mental illness?
(and, as much as I support freedom of movement - someone in the midst of schizophrenia shouldn't exactly be at a shooting range).

[Mark]

Religion

[lily.]

I agree. It shows up one of the many flaws in the gun laws of the USA.

[Lauren]

Originally posted by Mark
Religion

To be fair, I think the mental illness overrode the religion.

[Rob]

notice how most of these crazy shooting stories come from America, that what happens when you legalise guns in some states

[Mark]

Originally posted by Lauren

To be fair, I think the mental illness overrode the religion.

I guess we'll never know

[Lauren]

Originally posted by CBB6fanatic
notice how most of these crazy shooting stories come from America, that what happens when you legalise guns in some states

She was schizophrenic, not just trigger-happy.

The issue is with mentality.

[Lauren]

Originally posted by Mark

I guess we'll never know

True, but without the mental illness she wouldn't have heard God telling her to kill her son...and that she was the anti-christ.

[xDramatick]

Woah :|

[*mazedsalv**]

But why her son?? i dont understand why she didnt get any help

[Lauren]

Originally posted by *mazedsalv**
But why her son?? i dont understand why she didnt get any help

I think she'd been in mental hospitals in the past.

With schizophrenia it's hard to know what is reality and what's "hyperreality" (things that aren't real, but seem real to you... hallucinations, paranoia, sounds, vision). So she genuinely believed she was an anti-christ, she genuinely believed god was telling her to do this.

This is what many people find hard to understand about schizophrenia. They don't just hear a voice and know it's their schizophrenia - they hear a voice and assume it's real. They see hallucinations - and assume they're real. They live a terrible existence untreated, and most of the time even treated.

[Mrluvaluva]

Somebody has to have serious mental issues to do something like this. No sane person would have done this. Things like this are hard to understand for the majority of us but I think Lauren has shown things from a different perspective. It doesn't excuse it, but there are a hell of a lot of people out there with mental illnesses. This won't be the last story you will read like this. God knows if anyone can ever do anything to change this. God knows how long she had mental issues for, and whether the relevant persons were aware of it.

Sad and tragic situation for them both.

[Lewis.]

Omfg.