A close friend of Karin Richardson, however, thinks jealousy drove Riggleman’s rage. His ex-girlfriend, Brittany Harwood, had moved in with the Richardsons about a month ago to get away from Riggleman, whom Harwood claimed was being abusive. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Long before the bloodbath that left five dead in a rural West Virginia home, the suspected 22-year-old gunman visited nursing homes and tried to cheer up patients. In his own eyes, Shayne Riggleman was outgoing, a friend to both strangers and animals.
By the end of the rampage that left two others injured miles away, Riggleman took his own life along a Kentucky roadside Monday, police on his tail. It ended more than three years of run-ins with the law.
Police won’t say what they believe provoked Riggleman, but one victim’s close friend says it may have been jealousy over an ex-girlfriend who sometimes lived in the run-down home in the woods a few miles west of Morgantown.
As for Riggleman’s friends, they created a Facebook tribute page to him and struggled to reconcile the violence with the man they knew who wrote on his own page, “I want to accomplish something great in life. I want to help people.”
“I just want people to know that he wasn’t a monster,” said Amber Faulknier, 24, who went to Morgantown High School with Riggleman. “… Something had to have happened to make him snap.”
Faulknier was Riggleman’s partner in a certified nursing assistant class in vocational-technical school. Together, they visited nursing home residents.
“He was always laughing and joking and trying to make sure they had a better day and a better life than what they think they have,” she said.
Though Faulknier defended her old friend, she said she suspected Riggleman had mental problems because she’d seen two sides of his personality.
“He was that really nice, funny guy that would do anything for you,” she said, “but when that time came that you would make him mad, he was a totally different person. He was almost uncontrollable.”
Police believe all those slain were shot with a high-powered rifle. Killed were: 49-year-old Charles Richardson III; his wife, 50-year-old Karin Richardson; her children, 17-year-old Kevin Hudson and 22-year-old Katrina Hudson; and 30-year-old Robert Raber. Katrina Hudson was six months pregnant.
Detectives believe they know Riggleman’s motive but won’t comment until they complete their investigation, said State Police Capt. James Merrill.
“The ‘why’ is always an important question,” Merrill said, “but when the suspect commits suicide, we can’t ask him that question.”
A close friend of Karin Richardson, however, thinks jealousy drove Riggleman’s rage.
