Warnings of drugs, domestic violence in Florida mass murder
By Letitia Stein TAMPA Fla. (Reuters) - Florida authorities were warned repeatedly about problems in the home of a 51-year-old felon who shot his daughter and her six children before killing himself last week, according to records released on Monday by the state child welfare agency. At the time of the killings, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) was investigating drug abuse in the house in Bell, a small town in north Florida with fewer than 500 residents. The children's mother, grandfather and other relatives were known to child welfare investigators from prior reports involving concerns such as domestic violence and child abuse. Don Spirit, who summoned authorities to the house on Thursday before killing himself, had been the subject of reports involving the physical abuse of his own children, investigators said. Last year, he also reportedly hit one of his grandchildren with a belt, resulting in bruising, the agency reported. Domestic violence issues were also raised on multiple occasions, involving not only Don Spirit and his daughter, Sarah Spirit, but also her relationship with the father of her younger children, according to DCF. Three weeks ago, the agency was notified that adults in the home may have been abusing marijuana and a synthetic drug known as "K2." During an interview, Sarah Spirit, 28, admitted to a recent positive drug test that led to her arrest for violating probation, the agency reported. She was placed on probation earlier this year after facing charges of grand theft, public records show. After getting out of jail, she was kicked out of the home where she had been living. She and her children moved in with her father in his house in Bell, the DCF report noted. That is where she was found dead on Thursday with her six children, who ranged in ages from 11 years to 3 months. The agency had also received prior reports raising concerns about Sarah Spirit's supervision of her children and their general neglect. Her father's criminal history included convictions for drug and illegal weapons possession, battery and depriving a child of food and shelter, public records showed. In 2001, Spirit fatally shot his young son in the head while cleaning the barrel of his rifle on a hunting trip, which was deemed an accident, local media reported. Spirit pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon, records show, and served nearly three years in prison. (Editing by David Adams and Sandra Maler)
