After Christopher Speight’s mother died in 2006, he told a co-worker in central Virginia ”he had a ‘zinging’ in his ears” and was seeing a therapist, says the Washington Post. On Tuesday, Speight, 39, allegedly shot his sister, his brother-in-law and their two children, along with four family friends, in a rampage that left eight dead. It was the state’s worst mass slaying since a shooter killed 33 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.
The motive remains unknown, the Post says. The Washington-based Violence Policy Center says Speight is at least the 12th person licensed to carry a concealed handgun reported to have committed a mass shooting since May 2007.
