Man Kills Daughter and Her Six Children in Florida Murder-Suicide

Eight people, including six children, were killed Thursday in a small town outside Gainesville, Florida, police said.

The shooter, identified as Don Spirit, 51, was the father of an adult woman who was killed and the grandfather of her six children, Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz said. The gunman took his own life after deputies arrived at his residence in Bell, police said. It is believed that the others were already dead at that time.

The victims were identified as Sarah Lorraine Spirit, 28, and her daughters Alanna Stewart, 2½ months, Brandon Stewart, 4, Destiny Stewart, 5, and Kylie Kuhlmann, 9, and sons Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8, and Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11.

Police received a 911 call from Spirit just before 4 p.m., in which he made references to harming himself and others, Schultz said. Schultz said officers from his department had previously "been out to that residence on numerous law enforcement occasions."

Florida corrections records show an extensive criminal record stretching back at least 22 years for Don C. Spirit, age 51, of the same block in Bell, including a conviction for depriving a child of food and shelter in 1995. He was also convicted of battery in 1992, possession of drug paraphernalia in 1994 and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in 2003. News accounts at the time said Spirit pleaded guilty to the weapons charge after he accidentally shot and killed his 8-year-old son while they were hunting.

"I haven't handled something like this at all," Schultz said. "And to say this community is not going to be devastated by this — for a small county, we're all family here. There's certain things in life you can explain. There's some things you can't. This is something you can't explain. ...

"We'll get through this," he said. "I will continue to ask everybody to pray for the families."

Don Spirit is pictured in this 2001 handout photo obtained by Reuters released on Sept. 18, 2014. Spirit is identified by authorities as the suspect in an incident in Bell, Florida September 19, 2014, where a 51-year-old man shot dead his daughter and six grandchildren in his home before killing himself.

(NBC)