Florida Gunman Ranted About Witchcraft

He called 911 hours before he killed 6 people
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 31, 2013 11:07 PM CDT
Florida Gunman Ranted About Witchcraft
This photo released by the Hialeah Police Department shows Pedro Vargas.   (AP Photo/Hialeah Police Department)

The motive for Pedro Vargas' murder of six people is still unclear, but a newly released 911 call gives some insight into his mind before the South Florida shooting spree. In the call, made several hours before the rampage, the 42-year-old complained that he was followed and somebody was casting spells on him, the Miami Herald reports. His elderly mother then spoke to the dispatcher and said not to send officers because she had already slipped two Xanax pills in his food.

After making the call, Vargas visited the office of a lawyer who had gotten him to admit that he had made anonymous threats to workers at a business that let him go last year, and "we believe that if the lawyer had been in his office that afternoon, Vargas might have killed him," a police spokesman says. Instead, Vargas returned home, set $10,000 cash on fire, and then killed the husband and wife building managers and four neighbors before he was shot dead by a SWAT team. (More Pedro Vargas stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X