Former Marine Who Killed FL Family Is 'Madman': Sheriff

LAKELAND, FL — The man charged in the deaths of four people, including an infant, following a break-in and shooting Sunday appeared in court Monday for a bail review in Polk County. He is a former Marine sharpshooter who did not know his victims, was on drugs and got into a shootout with law enforcement, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

Bryan Riley, 33, of Brandon, is being held without bail and has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder as well as attempted murder, armed burglary and arson, according to CNN.

The charges came after a shooting around 4:30 a.m. Sunday on North Socrum Loop Road.

These were the victims who died, according to Judd:

• 3-month-old baby
• 33-year-old mother of the baby
• 40-year-old Justice Gleason
• 62-year-old woman who was the baby's grandmother

At the crime scene, the mother was holding the infant in her arms, and both were deceased, Judd said. Riley also shot the family dog, who was "named after one of our K-9s who was shot and killed in the line of duty" along with his handler in 2006, Judd added.

"I'll never be able to unsee" the image of the mother holding an infant, the sheriff said. "It is a horror of the utmost magnitude."

The grandmother was found deceased in a second home on the property outside Lakeland where Riley broke in.

An 11-year-old girl who attended Lake Gibson Middle School was also shot at least seven times, and she was hospitalized in stable condition Monday morning at Tampa General Hospital, WTSP reported.

The shooter exchanged gunfire with police until he surrendered, according to WTSP.

He was shot and taken to the Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center for treatment, the sheriff's office reported.

At the hospital, he tried to grab an officer's gun, according to the Associated Press.

Riley's girlfriend told police that he had suffered from PTSD after being a sharpshooter in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he had never been violent, the Associated Press reported.

He had gone to the Lakeland neighborhood Saturday night, hours before the shooting, and encountered Gleason mowing his lawn, the sheriff said.

"How did he end up at that house, and he lived in Brandon?" Judd said. "His girlfriend said he made zero statements about being violent or dangerous ... [Gleason] just happened to be the unlucky one mowing the yard, and that's where Bryan stopped that day."

His girlfriend informed authorities Riley had worked as security in an Orlando church last weekend and had been acting strangely ever since, indicating he could communicate directly with God, according to the sheriff.

Riley, who was deployed in Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, had been employed by ESS Global Corporation in executive protection, as a bodyguard and to provide security, Judd said.

"His girlfriend said he progressively got worse as the week went on," Judd said.

Riley told Gleason that God informed him a woman named Amber was going to commit suicide, according to Judd.

Neighbors called police but when authorities came, they could not find Riley after a more than 20-minute search, the sheriff reported.

Riley's girlfriend of four years told investigators he said God showed him in a vision that the Lakeland man's daughter was going to kill herself, according to USA Today, which reported the man had told him there was nobody by the name Amber there.

After a lieutenant in the area heard shots and called in an active shooter around 4:30 a.m., officers arrived to find Riley's vehicle ablaze in front of the home, with whimpering and gunshots coming from inside, the Associated Press reported.

The sheriff said Riley put out glow sticks in front of the house and set his car on fire to create a diversion.

"We're not dealing with a traditional criminal here," Judd said, noting the gunman was mentally ill.

When Riley was going through intake with officers, he told them that his victims at one point begged for their lives, and he shot them anyway, according to the sheriff, who called him a "madman" and a "mass murderer" who was calculated.

"He's evil in the flesh. He was a rabid animal," Judd said. "Our hearts and our prayers go out to the family of those who are injured and deceased."

Riley also told officers he was on methamphetamines, according to the Associated Press.

"He has virtually no criminal history, virtually none," the sheriff said. "Back when he was a teenager he had a small charge and then almost nothing."

The state's attorney said a motive was unclear.

Said State Attorney Brian Haas: “We will not know today or maybe ever."

See Also: Infant Among 4 Dead In Lakeland Shooting, Suspect In Custody