Joseph Aldridge identified as shooter in Tyrone, Missouri, door-to-door killings

About an hour ago, Texas County, Missouri, Sheriff James Sigman held a press conference regarding the multiple murders that took place last night inside several homes in Tyrone, a small, unincorporated community in the south-central part of the state. 

The shooter has been identified as Joseph Aldridge, age 36. He was discovered in an adjacent county, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Before turning the gun on himself, Aldridge killed seven people. Four were his cousins. The remaining three appear to be unrelated. 

The names of the four victims who were his cousins: 

Garold Dee Aldridge, 52
Julie Ann Aldridge, 47
Harold Wayne Aldridge, 50
Janell Arlissa Aldridge, 48

The three others killed appear to be unrelated to Aldridge, Sigman said. Their names have not been released, pending notification of their families. One woman was wounded and is expected to survive. All the victims are between their 40s and 60s in age range. 

Motive has not yet been determined. The death of Aldridge’s mother, apparently of natural causes, earlier in the day, is being investigated as a possible trigger for the killing spree. 

“We’re speculating that he came home and found her deceased and then for whatever reason went on a rampage and started killing people,” Texas County coroner Tom Whittaker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “This is just so strange. Right now, with the shooter dead, we don’t know. Is there something that sparked this? We’re still in the information-gathering stage.”

In the meantime, Sigman said: “Start locking your doors. The world is changing.”