Residents in a remote area of southern Missouri are trying to come to grips with what could cause a man to kill seven people, including four of his own relatives, in a nighttime shooting spree that spanned four homes.
The shooter, identified by authorities as 36-year-old Joseph Jesse Aldridge, used a .45-caliber handgun to kill two people each at three homes, one person at another, and then himself, in a reign of violence that began late Thursday night. All of the victims lived in or near the tiny, unincorporated town of Tyrone in the rolling hills of Missouri’s Ozarks region, about 40 miles from the Arkansas border. All of the victims were adults.
Texas County Sheriff James Sigman said people generally have felt safe in small towns like Tyrone.
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Around town, Aldridge was described as a recluse, and it was unclear what, if anything, he did for a living.
Vernetta Lucille Swartz, 76, Joseph Aldridge’s aunt, lives in Hesperia, Calif., but said the family is grief-stricken.
“Two of my nephews and wives were shot, and I guess another nephew was the shooter,” she said.
