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Nelson Kepley / Greensboro News & Record via AP
A memorial stands last Monday in front of the home where Mary Ann Holder shot one of her sons, his girlfriend, and a niece and nephew, near Greensboro, N.C.
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A 17-year-old shot by his aunt died on Friday, bringing the death toll from a weekend massacre outside Greensboro to six, including the shooter, authorities said.
Richard Brian Suttles, who had been shot on Sunday along with four other minors and one adult by Mary Ann Holder, died shortly before 1 p.m. Friday, Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said.
Along with Suttles, Holder killed her two sons, eight-year-old niece, and the 15-year-old girlfriend of one of her sons before killing herself. She also shot her married lover in the shoulder, and police say he's expected to recover.
The 36-year-old woman had been having an affair with Randall Lamb, 40, for almost four years, but it was coming to an end after months of bitter accusations between Holder, Lamb and Lamb's wife, including allegations of stalking and harassment.
Holder shot Lamb Sunday morning at a community college parking lot, and then drove away to pick up her son, 14-year-old Zachary Smith. Within a half-hour, a sheriff's deputy found Holder dead inside her SUV with a gun in her lap and her son mortally wounded in the back seat.
Police went to her home in the Pleasant Grove community south of Greensboro and found her son, 17-year-old Robert Dylan Smith, dead. Suttles, 15-year-old Makayla Leigh Woods and Holder's niece, 8-year-old Hannaleigh Suttles, were all suffering from wounds that would prove to be fatal. Hannaleigh died on Monday, followed by Zachary Smith a day later and Woods on Wednesday.
The victims at Holder's home appeared to have been shot while they slept in a bedroom and the living room, according to Barnes' chief deputy, Col. Randy Powers.
Holder left two notes taking responsibility for the killings. Police are continuing to investigate the case.
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It is a time like this I hope there is a heaven where those kids may be at rest and a hell where this lady will burn.
So sorry for the families and friends of the victims.
I'll never understand the reasoning behind acts such as this.Those young people had nothing to do with her affair. The only two at fault were Lamb and Holder. Those two alone deserved the penalty for ruined lives, not death, but punishment none the less.
She obviously was not stable. How terrible for someone else to take an innocent person's life and throw them into eternity and they are so young.
It's what happens when me-me-me reaches the point of psychosis.
Happy Holidays!
what a Jerk making such a posting!
I'm fairly sure it was meant to be sarcasm.
What makes you think we are not in hell already? Hell...? You mean re-incarnation?
TexanaDeb "Those two alone deserved the penalty for ruined lives, not death, but punishment none the less." Yes, every one deserves punbishment we are all dirty sinful creatures!
Criminy - so many wackos running around that don't even know how crazy they are.
Now we know where the next haunted house will be. That neighborhood will never be the same.
People make belief and faith into such a complicated issue and thus put down everyone's spiritual connection to a higher power. When we are given free will, that is exactly what it is - free from interference by God. There are consequences for every action. There are horrible things that happen in life e.g., an airplane crash - you know - @!$%# happens. God does not cause it or allow it to happen, it just is. When a person has faith it is not in the airplane or the pilot, it is in God's love and promise that we will have life everlasting, even after the plane crashes if that is what happens in our path. So fear is dispelled by faith, poverty or illness is made bearable through faith that even in this life, if we are not able to overcome these challenges our spirit or soul is learning and growing from this experience to carry into the next. How do I know there is a next? Well. I have faith and my faith allows me to believe this.
That is just taking "woman scorned" way to far. No family deserves this.
No it is not. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. The instant you suspect a woman is betraying you, leave her. She will take her act of treason much further. Better yet, do not marry at all. Paraphrasing the apostle Paul, he who marries a good woman who is a virgin does well, he who passes does even better.
What a waste of human life. All these young people that have had their potential extinguished in the flash of a gunshot... Then again, being raised by this woman (the niece and nephew were in her care, per the original story) was likely a grueling ordeal in itself....
What a terrible thing to happen :(
What the hell is going on in today's society? Why are these 'unstable' people turning guns on children all the time anymore? OK, I "get" that she was 'scorned'...she was 'hurt' because her 'lover' was breaking it off with her...and for all we know his current Wife was probably on the verge of putting a hurting of her own on him. But my god, WHY take your baggage out on children? They were not to the cause of your stupid decisions. So why?
I find myself expressing this far to often today, "My thoughts and prayers go out to the Victims family and friends".
Our society is riddled by drugs, increasing economic stress on the working class, gangsterism, a health care system that cares more about money than health of the patient, ruthless capitalism (I am for capitalism where your word means something and is not criminal), a screwed up legal system, corrupt politicians, 24 hours news that focuses more on shock/fear than news, and impersonal electronic communication.
I agree, TonyTitan. It seems every day there is another horrible story about parents or others killing children. The same day this story came out a local story where I live was posted about a mother who shot and killed her 15 year old son and then killed herself. They said it appeared to have been due to financial problems. Why, oh WHY would you kill your children because of difficulties/stress you are having in your own life? The lady in this story thought all of her kids (including the 15 year old girl who wasn't her's) were better off dead because of her personal problems???? What a terrible tragedy. I am so tired of reading stories like this....what is wrong with humanity?
Oh, zkysr, I feel the same way you do and you said it so beautifully
cheats, tries to kill her husband while cheating on him for 4 years ,and then goes on a killing spree. Now that's what i call a bitch! I glad i am single!
zkysr and sisterwoman; What exactly do those comments have to do with this article?
supersmooth; Please read the article before commenting.
it always was like that, don't go on believing the leave it to beaver story.... this is a violent unhappy culture who fantasizes about being John Wayne, wars, the marines, etc... any sign of forgiveness is considered a weakness, not being rich is considered a failure.
The problem is this...Society is loose its sense of morality each and everyday and we celebrate it like it is cold. While some nations stone adulterers to death for THIS is one of the MANY results of cheating. But, we are so wrapped up in making our sexual immoral behaviors so legal, we open the door for these things to happen to the innocent.
Who is to blame? First and foremost, Ms. Holder herself. SHE chose to disrespect another woman who did nothing to her by getting all up in her marriage. She partially responsible for this situation. Second would be Mr. Suttles, he played this wicked game and choose to hurt God knows how many women. He had no respect for his family or Ms. Holder's. And when he was done playing with her, he tried to throw her aside like trash. Thirdly any family members who knew about this situation well before this time period. They should of be doing everything in their power to knock some sense into these people's heads. And lastly, we as a society...WE have to stop taking this trash laying down...It is harming our society. Just like we can tell someone it is morally wrong to make death threats, and hold them accountable for it, we can do the same thing for those who engage in the destructive act of adultery.
What I don't understand about stories like this one, is how could someone sleep through gunfire in the next room?
While it's hard to believe while reading this story, America, and the world, is actually becoming a less violent place. Humanity is not perfect, and crimes like these have happened throughout history.
Having a gun just makes it faster and more effective.
Prof, I think you missed the whole point. Look at and read the opening post, and you'll see they are trying to answer why we have an increase in people going around the bend and shooting everyone they know. Human beings were not built for the environment we are in. It's a wonder that we haven't all gone completely nuts. Throw guns into the mix, and you get this, although killing sleeping children could just as easily be done with a knife or hammer, or whatever. The 14 year old might have had a chance though.
supersmooth . . . would appear that comprehension is not your strong suit . . . she was not married to the man, but he was married and cheating on his wife. The married man apparently was considering ending the affair and and the mistress was the one that did all of the shooting . . .
Because it is so easy to shoot someone, just flex your index finger.
Will you "Friend" me??
Nothing that hasn't been happening in past generations. These types of homicidal frenzies, too often occurring in conjunction with a holiday, have probably always been with us. I don't understand why this woman felt compelled to make everybody around her suffer because she could not manage her life. But her circumstance is not unique.
I recall a news incident from 30+ years ago. At a extended family Thanksgiving, one person instructed his adolescent nephew to vacate the uncle's supposed seat at the table. Upon the youth's refusal, the uncle retrieved his gun and shot his nephew dead.
My only puzzlement surrounds the question: can you ever see these events coming, or are they always a surprise to all concerned?
Sad story.
Just flex your index finger. How about first you make an unchangeable decision (I am going to kill someone). Every time you flex your finger a decision is made first. Murder happens in your mind and heart long before it reaches your finger.
Fine, then how would you murder someone 25 yards away??
The POINT is that guns were designed for and used most often in intentional homicides because they are just that easy to use.
zkysr
people are responsible for their own actions. period. a lot of people have many of stresses in life and don't do this.
:(
Must be the weather causing mothers to kill their own flesh and blood lately.
Gotta love Ashley Madison.
Why ask "Why"? There are crazy people out there. Let me repeat that. "THERE ARE CRAZY PEOPLE OUT THERE."
Period. End of story. Now, whether they got that way through genetics, drugs, brain injury, brain washing, societal pressures, diet, cognitive disorders, various and sundry neurological events, sun-spots... whatever. You have to know... THEY ARE OUT THERE. They walk among us. Every day. Every where. And someone usually knows who they are.
Stories like this one have great value. They remind us to...
Be aware. Be prepared. Protect yourselves and your loved ones.
That's all you can do. Pay attention to what's important.
Yes they are out there. As matter of fact ever since humans appeared on this Earth. Welcome to the world we live in. Crazy people, insane, Political nut cases, Religious fanatics, pedophile priests and the list goes on and on. People will go on killing and hurting one another. Really sad. Just look at the stories on Black Friday shopping spree. They will run over one another just for toy for their child. Really sick people. Yes, this is the World we ALL live in.
In all honesty, any one of us could go off the deep psychotic end with enough pressure. It's an individual matter how much stress each person can take. I am going to guess this woman had rage issues with her children if you dig a little deeper. Complete tragedy.
Remember everyone our gun laws are still an irrefutable holy cow that we can't live without, this is just another isolated case in a series of tens of thousands of isolated cases. It probably won't ever happen again.
And people who believe that "gun laws" are the problem, or the solution, are simply naive Pollyanna s.
If she hadn't had a gun, might she have used rocks quite so effectively? And I speak as someone who grew up with guns, though fortunately not with crazy people.
Not to preach, but it says in the Bible that America will turn away from God & families will turn on each other. It is sad to read & hear all these stories.
Ginger, the Bible is a collection of Middle Eastern documents, assembled long before Christians imposed themselves on the North American continent and its hapless native population.
the bible is a work of fiction you bloody fool. do you understand? you might as well believe in harry potter.
Really??? I graduated from Lexington Christian Academy and I'm pretty sure "America" is not mentioned anywhere in the bible (I am assuming King James version).
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
You could be just about wrong as right. People with God in their life have started wars, enslaved people, burned them as witches, watched as millions of Jews were murdered (The Pope)(I know they were the Vatican, but even so Italy was on the side of Germany, hmmmmm). Trust me God has a lot to do with everything both good and bad. Just ask the Protestants and Catholics, they kill one another, never mind the fact of the hundreds of Religions that fight among each other. There is over 2,000 years of history of people killing in the name of Their GOD. What this person did was horrific God or no God. Gun or no Gun. I judge people by their actions, not their Religious affiliation.
and Catholics in Ireland
Wonder if there were witnesses to the Community College shooting on Sun morning? It just seems odd that she only managed to wound the one guy she had the biggest beef with, yet killed the rest. Color me sceptical. I will watch this investigation with interest.
@Ginger Moreno: 1) You actually found the word, "America" in your Bible? 2) If you are looking for family violence and drama, read just about every single page of the OT - start with Cain and Able, Hon.
A lot of mothers are killing their childern and mostly sons.
The "answer" to life's challenges seems to be violence. Incredible how any person would raise an offensive hand to another person. Such is evidence of the vile condition of our society.
Simple Solution: everyone needs to keep repeating "My Rights Terminate at the End of My Nose!"
Since we weren't inside the head of the person that did this awful thing. then I guess it is all speculation....but, it is very sad...innocent people paying for someone else's pain. Not fair, not right....BUT it happens all too often....nothing else to say
I wonder how Randall Lamb is feeling these days. I am so sorry for those that lost their life. I am angry that another human being would feel the need to end so many lives. The question is . . . was she mentally ill? If so, did Randall Lamb know she was mentally ill? My question to Randall Lamb would be . . . "was it worth it?" If Lamb lead Holder on and then dumped her, does he have any guilt? God will embrace the children. Their hurt is gone. The hurt remains on earth. One unstable woman meets one married and cheating man and this is the horrific end. RIP to the victims. Justice to the suspect. To Randall Lamb . . . have you done enough damage? Your wife and children deserved better. Why your wife would want you now is beyond me. You didn't pull the trigger but your conduct made sure the trigger was pulled many times.
People have affairs, get divorced or not, and most don't end up in a mass killing. This guy is by no means innocent, but put the blame for the deaths where it belongs, on the shooter.
You still have to wonder....if the wife was not suing for annilation of affection, if Mary Ann did not give the 10,000 check to Randal on Saturday, made out to his wife....would this still happen...I agree that the shooter is to blame, but think the other two adults in this case share the blame. 5 children paid the price because 3 adults could not behave like adults ...it is very sad
Sounds like a good old white american family with their traditional values.
The problem is this...Society is loose its sense of morality each and everyday and we celebrate it like it is cold.
The problem here is that this woman choose to be used by a married man who in turn was playing a game, this is what all these disgusting, low life cheaters do, and they should have their sex bits removed for all the pain and suffering they cause.
This woman was sick for being with this man and this man is sick for using her for 1 second, let alone 4 years.
There are only two people to blame for this Holder and Suttles...They are the only ones to blame and too bad we as a nation don't have the balls to say, "If you engage in these hateful act, then here is your punishment." and start holding these people accountable. They ARE hurting families, communities, and this nation.
Randall Lamb was the boyfriend. Suttles was the innocent 17 year old nephew who was shot and died.
Yes, there seems to be a fulfillment of a prophecy here. Instead of turning the hearts of the children to the fathers.
That natural light colored stone contrasting the dark brick and mortar on the front of that house is so scary. Not a living plant except for the leafless tree which holds a lifeless, hopeless tire; skeletal lawn furniture. It all feels so evil. Bulldoze the entire lot and give it back to nature. I can't see how anyone will ever want to live there again. Maybe nature could make something useful out of the space.
When something so senseless and tragic happens, the comment sections light up with a lot of tripe regarding everything from gods to gun laws, and the supposed break down of society. However, this has nothing to do with any of those things.
This has nothing to do with religion, or lack thereof. This has to do with one man's stupid decision to cheat on his wife with an unstable nutcase who might have snapped for any other reason. Face it, there are people out there that are walking the razor's edge between normality and a spectacular meltdown. If we look back to Andrea Yates, her meltdown was deeply intertwined with her religious upbringing, but no one in their right mind is using that to justify the abandonment of religion, are they? So, let's not start pointing fingers and blaming this on the notion that the people involved "strayed" from the path that your god dictates is the correct one, because that argument can work both ways, but is not going to be valid not matter how you spin it.
Let's stop pretending that society was somehow more innocent or pure in the past, because it never was. People have been killing each other for lesser reasons since we first picked up a rock and decided to use it as a weapon. If anything, the quicker sharing of information we enjoy today brings these things to light in a way that we never saw even a few decades ago. So, no, this isn't a matter of society breaking down, it's a matter of the bad things that happen within our society being brought to the forefront more easily. Remember, there was a time when domestic, sexual, and other abuses were never talked about.
As for the gun laws - the majority of people that own guns never use them outside of the range, whether it be for self defense or for malicious purposes. The person that wants to use a gun for the latter will do so whether guns are outlawed or not.
What happened in this case is a horrible tragedy, and the only good that's come from it is that this sick woman took herself out rather than waste the tax payer's money on a trial and prison time. It's just a shame that so many others died in the process.
If she was religious, she certainly didn't practice it.
First off, Sean, I'm an atheist, and I'm not sure what your getting at with the point about religion, because you're entire comment is all over the place. Seriously, read your comments on religion. It's like you are channeling a crack head and makes no sense. You may want to clarify if you actually care to have an adult discussion with me or anyone. My point about religion is that it has nothing to do with what this woman did, whether she is a nutjob zealot or a godless heathen. She was out of her tree.
I do openly defend the right for a person to have a gun. There was nothing veiled about that. Take away guns and people find ways around them, or find other ways to kill people if they feel they must. I currently live in a place where guns are outlawed and knife crime is a huge problem now, on top of the gun crimes, because only people with bad intent have handguns. And the fact still remains that most people in the US that have guns, as I did when I lived there, never actually shoot another human being with them. But all it takes is one whackadoodle out of however many million to get everyone screeching about gun laws.
I'm fully aware of my grammatical errors in my previous post and corrected the wrong one, thus creating two. Time was running out. :P
For gods sake, don't get rid of the guns, whatever you do!
Insane. Didn't she show signs of being a crazed person? Scorned is one thing but flipping nuts is another.
Wasn't there a clue that she was an unstable person? I'm not buying that a "normal" person snaps to that magnitude.
....and YES, if you are a very pissed off/deranged person please don't harm others. Take yourself to an empty field......
From what has been reported, she was showing signs of unstable behavior, but who thinks that anyone they know is capable of something like this. Sometimes, the signs aren't readily apparent.
americanabroad-4563818,
couldn't have said it better. As much as it may surprise some, the world is actually far less violent than ever before (and there are hard statistics to back this up). The reason we tend to think things are getting worse is because the media loves to dwell on the negative.
Thank you, zijws... I really just find it funny that the moment something terrible like this happens, everyone looks for someone to blame other than the idiot that pulled the trigger.