He Spoke of a School Shooting. Years Later, He Allegedly Killed 6

In 2014, Fredrick Demond Scott threatened to "shoot the school up, Columbine-style," according to court records cited by the Washington Post. He didn't do that, but prosecutors say he did cause the shooting deaths of six people in Missouri. The 23-year-old had last August been charged in the slayings of three of those people, and on Friday, a grand jury indicted him on three additional killings. The Kansas City Star characterizes the deaths in Kansas City and Grandview as "trail killings," as the five male victims were mostly murdered while walking or camping in parks, or out walking with dogs; in one case, a man was shot walking on a city street. One female, Karen Harmeyer, was killed; the 64-year-old was homeless, and her decomposing remains were found in her tent in July, reports the AP.

The first killing—that of John Palmer, 54—happened in August 2016, with his body found some distance from Indian Creek Trail. The sixth is what police say broke the case. Steven Gibbons, 57, was shot after riding a Kansas City bus on Aug. 13, and investigators say Scott was captured on video trailing Gibbons, and that his DNA was found on an iced tea bottle and a cigarette butt at the scene. In addition to all the victims being middle aged, all were white. While court records also show Scott, who is black, once threatened to "kill all white people," the Kansas City Star says police have not identified a racial motivation in the shootings, and his mother in an August interview said she doubted race was a factor. She described her son as having untreated schizophrenia. He faces six counts of first-degree murder among other charges. (More murder stories.)