Triple-murder suspect caught and died during Tenn. standoff is 27-year-old David Smith, according to Reuters. The Lakeland triple-murder suspect caught and who shot himself during standoff was believed to be delusional when he killed three people, including his sister, sometime between Saturday and Monday in Lakeland, Florida, said law enforcement officials.
Officials said that a U.S. military veteran was suspected in the Memorial Day weekend killings of three people in Florida. The triple-murder suspect caught reportedly died on Tuesday after he shot himself during a standoff with a SWAT team in Tenn.
He was taken to a hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a SWAT standoff at a Days Inn in Knoxville, according to officials. The Knox County Sheriff's Office said Smith had died just after 5:30 p.m. at the UT Medical Center, while an autopsy for Smith is scheduled for Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Smith apparently called authorities in Tenn. saying that he was wanted for murder in Florida. During the call, the Florida triple-murder suspect caught was holed up at a motel in West Knoxville. According to a statement from the Knox County Sheriff's Department, Smith fired multiple shots from his motel room during negotiations for his surrender which eventually became quiet.
Reports say that after the silence, agents gassed and then stormed into the room of the Lakeland triple-murder suspect caught. There they found him injured from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital afterwards and was pronounced dead.
Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, Florida said that Smith was located only after an overnight manhunt. The Lakeland triple-murder suspect caught was a former U.S. Army veteran with the 82nd Airborne Division who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The bodies of the people that Smith shot have been discovered by his 14-year-old niece, who, according to the Associated Press, had been away for the weekend on an ROTC trip. The niece found her mother, who is also Smith's sister and two others dead upon her return. Before the triple-murder suspect caught, he had recently lived in the home where he killed three people.
Judd said, "It was a very violent scene." Two of the bodies of the three people shot by the triple-murder suspect caught have been identified as 31-year-old Danyala Smith, Smith's sister, and 25-year-old Nikosi Williams, a visitor at the house. The third victim has still not been identified.
According to the sheriff, Smith left the military several years ago while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The triple-murder suspect caught became a paranoid loner after his service in the army. Judd said that Smith had previously been hospitalized involuntarily for his mental condition, and was posting delusional statements on Facebook.
He said, "I don't know who could have done more, but I know a lot of people in the family tried to help him."
Triple-murder suspect caught was also arrested in 2009 on charges of cocaine possession, carrying a concealed weapon (firearm), marijuana possession and narcotic equipment possession. However, the firearm and cocaine possession charges were dropped.
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