GILCHRIST COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators in Gilchrist County are still looking for any clues about why a grandfather opened fire on his family, killing his daughter and six grandchildren before committing suicide.
Deputies were called to the home in Bell about 40 miles west of Gainesville Thursday afternoon.
Investigators said there were no signs Don Spirit planned the mass murder-suicide.
In the meantime, people who live close to the crime are grieving.
At the town’s high school football game Friday night, heavy hearts came together.
The game started with prayer and the releasing of white balloons in honor of the innocent lives lost.
Everyone wore white to the game as a sign of unity and donations were collected for the surviving family members.
“I would see the little children coming home from school about every day,” said resident Maureen Eburdick.
The children are identified as Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11; Kylie Kuhlmann, 9; Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8; Destiny Stewart, 5; Brandon Stewart, 4; and Alanna Stewart, who was born in June.
“I’m not sure you get clear signs something like this could happen,” said Lt. Jeff Manning with the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies are still investigating the family home in the remote town of about 350 people where everybody knows everybody.
They said they had been called to the home several times before, but never saw any warning signs.
"There were no domestic violence calls and nothing like that recently occurred," Manning said.
Spirit’s rap sheet dates back decades and some family members said the suspect was a ticking time bomb.
He served prison time following the fatal shooting of his son in a 2001 hunting accident in Osceola County.
In 2008, his daughter had him arrested for battery, writing to a judge, “My dad has not been emotionally or mentally stable” since the shooting.
The gun used in the shooting was illegally owned.
A prayer vigil is scheduled for Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Bell Elementary School.
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