A US man from the state of Florida simply identified as Don Charles Spirit, 51, killed himself, after he had murdered his daughter and six grandchildren, the youngest just three months old.
The oldest child was age 11.
"I haven't seen anything like this at all," Gilchrist county sheriff Robert Schultz, who was visibly shaken, told reporters. "This county, this community is going to be devastated from this. It is a small county, we are all family here."We're asking for prayers for this community and the families involved."
Spirit had contacted emergency services saying that he was considering harming himself and others, but when police arrived at the home in the small town of Bell, his daughter and young grandchildren were all dead, police said.
Spirit reportedly killed himself while police were there.
In an incident later ruled an accident, Spirit shot and killed his nine-year-old son during a 2001 hunting trip, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The child died instantly from a bullet wound to the head, caused by Spirit's rifle going off while he cleaned rust from the barrel, the paper said.
Thursday's grisly episode is sure to revive passionate debate about gun ownership in the United States, where 11,000 people were murdered by gun violence in 2011, according to FBI figures.
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