In a call to police dispatchers, Don Charles Spirit made it very clear what he'd done.
The 51-year-old ex-convict shot and killed his daughter and six of his grandchildren last Thursday in Bell, Florida, before turning the gun on himself. He laid out the gruesome crime in an emergency call, embedded above.
"Yes ma'am I, um, I just shot my daughter, and shot all my grandkids," Spirit told the dispatcher. "And I'll be sitting on my step, and when you get here I'm gonna shoot myself."
"Every one of them are dead," he added.
Just two weeks before the murder-suicide, the Florida Department of Children and Families was investigating a report that the children were victims of drug-addled caretakers, according to the Miami Herald.
Spirit's daughter, 28-year-old Sarah Spirit, told the agency at the time that she had just been released from jail after violating her probation by testing positive for illegal substances.
Meanwhile, the children -- aged 2 months to 11 years old -- were forced to live with Sarah and Don Spirit, who had a violent criminal record and was reportedly abusive.
Allegations concerning Spirit’s parenting ran the gamut: drug abuse, medical neglect, poor supervision of her children, and domestic violence, including fights with her father. Don Spirit had a DCF history also, including an allegation of “the physical abuse of his grandchildren.” Don Spirit, DCF was told, “hit one of them with a belt, which resulted in bruising.”
The DCF case was still open when Spirit killed the whole family.
The names of the victims are as follows: Sarah Lorraine Spirit, 28, Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11, Kylie Kuhlmann, 9, Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8, Destiny Stewart, 5, Brandon Stewart, 4, and Alanna Stewart, who was born in June.
Last Thursday, a dispatcher was the last person to speak with Spirit.
DISPATCHER: How did this happen, Don?
SPIRIT: I don't want to hear it ma'am I'm done with every f--king thing. Just bring the motherf--kers out here that's all. You got all the kids are dead in the house.
DISPATCHER: How many people?
SPIRIT: Six kids, one adult. One of 'em is a baby.
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