Former Marine arrested for fatally shooting 4 members of Florida family denied bond
The former Marine who allegedly murdered a family of four in Lakeland, Fla., and left an 11-year-old girl in critical condition was denied bond Monday at his first court appearance.
Bryan Riley, 33, has been charged with four counts of first degree murder, seven counts of attempted first degree murder of law enforcement officers, cruelty to an animal, shooting into a building, arson and burglary.
Riley, a trained sharpshooter who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, surrendered to police Sunday morning after a shootout with officers from inside the Lakeland home, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
“They begged for their lives and I killed them anyway,” Riley allegedly told police after his arrest.
The self-described “survivalist” first showed up at the house around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, when he told a woman that God sent him to speak with one of her daughters. He left when she turned him away, then told two more people down the road he was looking for the daughter because God had told him she intended to kill herself.
The woman called police, who didn’t find Riley or his car after a 20-minute search. Riley then went home to Brandon, talked to his girlfriend and returned to Lakeland around 4:30 a.m., police said.
That’s when a Polk County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant who happened to be in the area heard “two volleys of automatic gunfire,” Judd said during a press conference Sunday.
Responding police who arrived at the house found a truck on fire and Riley in the front yard “totally outfitted in body armor and [looking] as though he was ready to engage us in an active shooter situation,” Judd said. Glow sticks were laid out in a path between the road and the residence.
Riley ran back inside the house when he saw the police, at which point the deputies heard a gunshot, a woman scream and a baby “whimper,” according to Judd.
Riley exchanged gunfire with police before surrendering, officials said. He had been shot and was taken to the hospital, where he attempted to take a gun from an officer.
Inside the house, officers found an 11-year-old girl with multiple gunshot wounds who told them three people were dead inside. The girl was in critical but stable condition Monday morning, a spokesman for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office told the Daily News.
Justice Gleason, 40, a 33-year-old woman and a 3-month-old boy, still in his mother’s arms, were found dead, “huddling and hiding in fear,” Judd said.
The baby’s 62-year-old grandmother was found dead in another house on the same property.
The family dog was also fatally shot.
Judd said investigators have found “zero connection” between Riley and his victims. His girlfriend told police that he had been suffering from PTSD recently.
