Grand Rapids— A gunman who killed seven people before ending his own life Thursday in the West Michigan city was on a malicious manhunt looking for any woman he had ever dated, police said today.
But Police Chief Kevin Belk said today he didn't know why Rodrick Shonte Dantzler was angry at his former flames.
Belk said Dantzler's huge cache of ammunition showed the act was premeditated, but he wouldn't speculate whether Dantzler was mentally ill.
"There's no question he went out hunting these people down," the chief said during a press conference.
The names of the seven victims were released by police. They were: Jennifer Marie Heeren, 29, an ex-girlfriend; 12-year-old Kamrie Deann Heeren-Dantzler, Dantzler's daughter; 52-year-old Rebecca Lynn Heeren, Jennifer Heeren's mother; 51-year-old Thomas Heeren, her father; 23-year-old Kimberlee Ann Emkens, a woman Dantzler had previously dated; 27-year-old Amanda Renee Emkens, Kimberlee Emkens' sister; and 10-year-old Marissa Lynn Emkens, Amanda Emkens' daughter.Autopsies are scheduled for today.
At the press conference, held at Grand Rapids Police headquarters, Mayor George Heartwell said the bloody rampage had shaken the community to its roots.
"It's so uncharacteristic that it boggles the mind, even to imagine it could happen here," he said.
He counseled residents to talk to each other, and for neighbors to reassure one another.
Dantzler targeted each of his victims, which included two ex-girlfriends and his 12-year-old daughter, police said today.
Belk also said Dantzler took cocaine and alcohol in the hours after his shooting spree.
Heartwell today also praised local and state authorities for relentlessly pursuing Dantzler and for their negotiating skills that helped keep three hostages alive. Heartwell said that the surviving hostages taken Thursday by Dantzler might not have lived without the patience and skill of hostage negotiators. Police say they tried to talk him into giving up but at the last moment he killed himself.
Heartwell said he wishes Dantzler hadn't taken his own life so "we could have brought him to justice." The mayor says "there were entire neighborhoods that were traumatized by these events."
"This is a rare occurrence anywhere," Heartwell said. "A homicide like this is exceedingly rare. It's an awful situation."
Dantzler had been on the run for hours Thursday, leading police on a high-speed chase through downtown Grand Rapids after the deadly shootings began around 3 p.m. Officers soon found three bodies in a home on Plainfield Avenue. An hour later, they discovered the other four across town in a ranch-style house on a cul-de-sac called Brynell Court...

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