Andrea Dawn Pierson Myers
Birth: April 9, 1977
Death: March 10, 2009
Obituary
Mrs. Andrea Dawn Myers, of Samson, passed away Tuesday, March 10, 2009. She was 31.
Funeral services will be 3 p.m. Sunday, March 15, in the chapel of Sorrells Funeral Home in Geneva with Rev. Donal Walsingham officiating. Burial will follow in the Travelers Rest Cemetery in Samson with Sorrells Funeral Home of Geneva directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home in Geneva, Saturday, March 14, from 6 until 8 p.m. Flowers will be accepted or memorial contributions may be made to the Southeast Alabama Child Advocacy Center, P.O. Box 8781, Dothan, AL 36304.
Andrea was born April 9, 1977 in Wichita, Kansas to Mark David and Judy Kay Rusher Pierson. Prior to moving to Samson, Andrea was a Volunteer Firefighter with the Mulvane Fire Department in Mulvane, Kansas. She was a very loving and devoted wife, mother, daughter and sister. She was a member of Lime Springs United Methodist Church.
A daughter, Corrine Gracy Myers, preceded her in death.
Note: Andrea D. Myers, was shot and killed by Michael McLendon on March 10,2009
Burial: Travelers Rest Cemetery, Samson, Geneva County, Alabama, USA
Criminal Details
NYDailyNews.com
The Associated Press – Mar. 12, 2009
SAMSON, Ala. – Deputy Joshua Myers was headed home in his police cruiser when he got a call that officers were chasing a man who’d fired on a trooper.
Myers joined in the pursuit of a gunman who turned out to be responsible for the worst mass shooting in Alabama’s history, arriving at a metals plant where officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter.
Myers thought of his young family and called a friend to check on them. The friend told him simply: “Get home now.”
That was the first indication that Myers’ own wife and daughter were among the 10 people Michael McLendon killed before taking his own life.
Andrea D. Myers, 31, and 18-month-old Corrine Gracy Myers were gunned down while visiting neighbors across the street.
The deputy hasn’t been allowed back to that blood-soaked porch. Now he’s left to care for a young son and his 4-month-old daughter, Ella Grace, who was injured in the shooting. She was in fair condition at a Florida hospital, awaiting surgery for a leg wound.
“It still seems like I should be able to walk in the house and my wife should be there and my baby girl should be in there climbing on me,” Myers said Wednesday, the morning after the shootings. He did not know the shooter. “I never in my life am gonna be able to fully understand it.”
Andrea and Corrine Myers died alongside McLendon’s uncle and two of his cousins, on the porch next door to McLendon’s grandmother, who also was killed.
A witness said they had no time to react as their kin wordlessly and expressionlessly pulled the trigger, killing all of them.
The hourlong rampage began when he killed his mother and set her house ablaze, and he would kill three others seemingly at random and spray more than 200 bullets before shooting himself at the Reliable Metals plant in Samson.
Puzzled investigators found several clues as to what set off the rampage in these rural communities near the Florida state line – but the people who might be able to explain are all dead. Authorities hoped a list found in the charred skeleton of McLendon’s home might give them insight into what happened.
“We found a list of people he worked with, people who had done him wrong,” said Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley.
The lists included a metals plant that had forced him to resign years ago and where he ended up killing himself Tuesday to end the rampage, McAliley said. Also on the list were a sausage factory from which he suddenly quit last week and a poultry plant that suspended his mother, McAliley said.
The pages torn from a spiral notebook included names of co-workers who he felt had wronged him, including one who reported him for not wearing ear plugs, another who made him clean a meat grinder and a supervisor who didn’t like the way he cut pork chops, McAliley said.
A co-worker at the sausage factory, Jerry Hysmith, said McLendon was shy, quiet and laid-back.
“Something had to snap,” said Hysmith, 35, who lives in Samson, and worked with McLendon in 2001.
McLendon was briefly employed by the police department in Samson in 2003 and spent about a week and a half at the police academy, dropping out before he received firearms training, said Col. Chris Murphy, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety. More recently, he worked nearly two years at food manufacturer and distributor Kelley Foods in Elba, about 25 miles north of where he shot most of his victims.
The company didn’t specify what his position was, but said in a statement that he was a “reliable team leader” who was well-liked. McLendon quit last Wednesday.
Though Kelley Foods said he left voluntarily, the company was on the list of those the gunman felt slighted by, McAliley said. So was the Reliable plant, and a Pilgrim’s Pride plant near Enterprise where his mother had worked. The district attorney said the mother had recently been laid off from the plant.
The other victims were identified as McLendon’s mother, Lisa McLendon, 52; his uncle, James Alford White, 55; his cousin, Tracy Michelle Wise, 34; a second cousin, Dean James Wise, 15; and his grandmother, Virginia E. White, 74. Also killed were James Irvin Starling, 24; Sonja Smith, 43; and Bruce Wilson Malloy, 51.
The first killed Tuesday was McLendon’s mother. Authorities said he put her on an L-shaped couch and set her afire. He said McLendon also shot four dogs at the house.
A dozen miles away, he gunned down the other relatives and sent panicked bystanders fleeing and ducking behind cars. His uncle’s wife, Phyllis White, sought refuge at a neighbor’s house after being chased out of her house.
McLendon returned moments later in his car as if he were still looking for her. Neighbor Tom Knowles then made eye contact with him.
“He had cold eyes. There was nothing. I hollered at him. I said, ’Look, boy, I ain’t done nothing to you,”’ Knowles said. McLendon then left for good.
McLendon shot more victims at random as he drove toward the metals plant where he once worked. Smith was struck down as she walked out of a gas station. Malloy was hit while driving. Starling was shot as he walked.
At the Reliable plant, McLendon got out of his car and fired at police with his assault rifle, wounding Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, authorities said. He then walked inside and killed himself.
Once investigators got a look at the ammunition he was carrying, they feared the bloodshed could have been worse. “I’m convinced he went over there to kill more people. He was heavily armed,” said Coffee County Sheriff Dave Sutton.
Back at the house, “the only thing that was alive was the 3-month-old baby,” Ella, who lay bleeding, said Knowles. Myers, the deputy, and his neighbors are still trying to absorb the shock.
“I don’t know what else to say,” Myers said. “Just keep praying for my baby girl.”
Geneva County Massacre
The victims were:
- Lisa White McLendon, 52, Michael McLendon’s mother
- James Alford White, 55, McLendon’s uncle
- Tracy Michelle Wise, 34, daughter of James White
- Dean James Wise, 15, son of Tracy Wise
- Virginia E. White, 74, McLendon’s grandmother
- Andrea Dawn Myers, 31
- Corrine Gracy Myers, 18 months, daughter of Andrea Myers
- James Irvin Starling, 24
- Sonya Lolley Smith, 43
- Bruce Wilson Maloy, 51
FindAGrave.com
Don Atwell – Mar. 12, 2009
View on FindAGrave.com
Alabama Department of Public Safety
MONTGOMERY – State, federal and local investigators responding to the multiple homicides March 10 in south Alabama are piecing together the sequence of events that resulted in the shooting deaths of 10 victims, the injury of six individuals, and the death of the suspect from a self-inflicted gunshot. Investigators also are working to determine a motive for the deadly attacks.
The gunman has been identified as Michael Kenneth McLendon, 28, of Coffee County.
We believe the attacks began at McLendon’s mother’s residence in Coffee County on County Road 474 in Kinston, where McLendon also lived. The body of a woman was discovered at the residence at approximately 3:30 p.m. when local firefighters responded to witness reports of a fire at that location. The Department of Forensic Sciences is working to confirm the identity, but the victim is believed to be Lisa White McLendon, 52, McLendon’s mother.
McLendon then traveled to Samson in Geneva County, where he shot and killed five individuals on the front porch of his uncle’s residence on West Pullum Street. The victims are identified as:
- Corrine Gracy Myers, 18 months, the daughter of Geneva County Deputy Josh Myers
- Andrea D. Myers, 31, mother of the 18-month-old and wife of Deputy Myers
- James Alford White, 55, identified as McLendon’s uncle
- Tracy Michelle Wise, 34, identified as McLendon’s cousin
- Dean James Wise, 15, identified as Ms. Wise’s son and McLendon’s second cousin
Injured at that residence was 4-month-old Ella K. Myers, the daughter of Deputy Myers. Ella was transported by LifeFlight to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. This morning she was listed in stable condition and scheduled for surgery.
McLendon then shot and killed Virginia E. White, 74, identified as McLendon’s grandmother, who was standing in the doorway of her home on Pullum Street, next door to the residence where the first attack occurred.
McLendon then left Pullum Street, traveling north on Wise Street in a red 2003 Mitsubishi. On Wise Street, McLendon shot and killed a pedestrian, James Irvin Starling, 24. McLendon continued north onto Main Street in Samson, where he shot and injured Jeffrey Lynn Nelson, 50.
McLendon then traveled to the Inland Gas Station on Main Street in Samson, where he shot and killed Sonja Smith, 43. Injured at that location was Greg McCullough, 49. McLendon continued traveling east on Alabama 52, firing rounds into several businesses and vehicles as he drove.
At 4:01 p.m. CDT, an Alabama state trooper notified the Dothan State Trooper Post that he had received a report of a subject shooting at people in Samson, and the trooper proceeded toward Samson on Alabama 52.
McLendon, traveling east on Highway 52 toward Geneva, then shot and killed Bruce Wilson Malloy, 51, who was traveling in a vehicle on 52.
At 4:06 p.m. CDT, the Alabama state trooper encountered McLendon on Alabama 52, and McLendon fired at least seven rounds into the trooper’s vehicle. The trooper, Mike Gillis, was injured slightly by broken glass, and continued the pursuit on McLendon into Geneva.
The Geneva Police Department attempted to stop McLendon using a PIT, or pursuit intervention maneuver, in front of the Wal-Mart in Geneva. McLendon fired several rounds into the officer’s vehicle, injuring him with glass fragments. Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey attempted to block McLendon’s exit from the area, at which time McLendon fired several rounds at the chief. Chief Lindsey was wounded in the shoulder.
McLendon continued on Highway 52, turned onto Maple Avenue in Geneva, and then onto Highway 27 north. He stopped at Reliable Products in Geneva at 4:17 p.m., where he exited his vehicle. McLendon exchanged fire with a Geneva County deputy and a state Conservation officer before entering the Reliable Products building. Within minutes, gunshots were heard, and McLendon was discovered dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
McLendon was employed at Kelley Foods of Alabama. We have identified that in 2003, he was briefly employed as a police officer in Samson, but failed to complete required training at the police academy in Montgomery. He had no known criminal record.
McLendon was armed with two assault rifles, an SKS and a Bushmaster, using high-capacity magazines taped together; a shotgun; and a .38-caliber handgun. At this time we believe that he fired in excess of 200 rounds during the assaults.
In addition to the Alabama Department of Public Safety, agencies participating in the investigation are the Geneva County Sheriff’s Department, Geneva Police Department, Samson Police Department, Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, Dothan Police Department, Dale County Sheriff’s Department, Andalusia Police Department, Covington County Sheriff’s Department, New Brockton Police Department, Ozark Police Department, State Fire Marshal, Alabama Beverage Control Board, Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Forensic Sciences, Emergency Management Agency, Alabama Power Company investigators, the FBI, ATF, and Ft. Rucker Police Department.
Other News Links
March 2009 – V.O.C.A.L. Samson Massacre Story