FSU Shooter Feared Government, Mind Control

Myron May said to have sent 8 packages before the shooting
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 21, 2014 11:10 AM CST
FSU Shooter Feared Government, Mind Control
Tallahassee police chief Michael Deleo, left, and FSU police chief David Perry.   (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)

Myron May believed he was being watched by the government when he opened fire at Florida State University's library, police say. Three weeks before, the 31-year-old FSU alum had returned to the area from New Mexico where he worked as a rookie prosecutor and was well-liked. He planned to take the Florida state bar exam and open his own practice, a family friend tells NBC News, but May was "in a state of crisis," police say. In videos and a journal, "he expressed fears of being targeted." Shortly before the shooting, he appeared on a Facebook group for people who believe they are victims of mind control. "Has anyone here ever been encouraged by your handler to kill with a promise of freedom?" he wrote on Nov. 14.

He also posted links to sites that claimed the government could read minds, the AP reports. Back in New Mexico, a former girlfriend told police May had developed "a severe mental disorder" and believed authorities had put cameras in his car and home. Yet May's cousin, a middle-school teacher, saw no sign of a disturbed mind when May returned to Florida. In fact, he asked May to speak to his class. "He said, I can't do it this week, maybe after Thanksgiving.'" Meanwhile, an acquaintance tells ABC News that May sent a message to eight people saying they would each receive a package from him. "What did he send everyone? Was it a manifesto? Was it a message? I don't know," the acquaintance says. "I'm just as curious as everyone else." The AP reports one such package has been delivered. (More Myron May stories.)

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