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Ohio student goes on unexplained killing rampage

BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio - A teen about to graduate from high school shot to death his grandparents, mother and two friends and wounded his younger sister before committing suicide, authorities said Monday. The rampage perplexed school officials, who said he seemed to have been in good spirits.

Logan County Sheriff Michael Henry said Monday that authorities did not know why Scott Moody, 18, acted as he did.

The shootings at two neighboring farmhouses were discovered when the sole survivor, Moody's critically wounded teenage sister, called her stepsister, who made an anguished call to 911. The deaths came hours after his graduation party.

Preliminary evidence showed that Moody went to the farmhouse next door sometime Sunday morning and killed his grandparents with a .22-caliber rifle, then returned home, where he shot the others, then himself.

Bernie Pachmayer, superintendent for the school district, said no one had seen any indication Moody was troubled.

Henry identified the victims as Moody's grandparents, Sharyl Shafer, 66, and Gary Shafer, 67; Moody's mother, Sheri Shafer, 37; and two friends, Megan Karus, 19, and Paige Harshbarger, 14. Karus and Harshbarger had slept over after a party.

Stacy Moody, 15, was shot in the neck. She remained in critical condition Monday at Ohio State University Medical Center.

There was no sign of a struggle, Henry said, adding that it appeared some of the victims were killed while they slept.

[Last modified May 31, 2005, 00:45:11]