Missouri shootings: Joseph Jesse Aldridge identified as gunman

Joseph Jesse Aldridge has been identified as the gunman who killed seven people in a door-to-door shooting spree in Missouri on February 26 before killing himself, authorities said.

According to police, the rampage may have been triggered by finding his mother dead of apparent natural causes.

Four of the victims are family members of the suspect.

Joseph Jesse Aldridge, 36, was later found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a car in a neighboring county after the killings in the rural community of Tyrone, located in the southern part of Missouri, about 90 miles east of Springfield, authorities said.

The body of a woman identified by authorities as Joseph Jesse Aldridge’s mother, 74-year-old Alice Aldridge, had been dead for 24 hours before she was found by authorities on February 26, and she is thought to have died of natural causes.

Police first learned of the rampage — which spanned six crime scenes in a three-mile radius in Tyrone — just after 10 p.m. local time on Thursday, February 26, after a juvenile female called 911 and said there were gunshots in her home.

Four of the seven victims were identified as husband and wife Darrell and Julie Aldridge and husband and wife Harold and Janelle Aldridge, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Kinder said at a news conference on February 27, adding that some were cousins of the suspect.

The other three victims were not members of the suspect’s family and have not yet been identified.

Texas County Sheriff James Sigman said during a news conference on February 27 that investigators “checked a wide area door-to-door” for additional victims. He added that investigators weren’t looking for any other suspects.

Joseph Jesse Aldridge pleaded guilty to federal charges of possessing a firearm, described as a .22-caliber pistol, while using marijuana in 2008, according to KSDK. Following his 21-month sentence, he was ordered to participate in counseling programs, the station reported. The gun Joseph Jesse Aldridge allegedly used on February 26 was a .45-caliber handgun, Sheriff James Sigman said.