Frederick Demond Scott, 22 (pictured), suspected of fatally shooting five white men, threatened three years ago to shoot up a school and to ‘kill all white people’, according to court records
A Missouri man, suspected of fatally shooting five white men, threatened three years ago to shoot up a school and to ‘kill all white people’.
Court records show Fredrick Demond Scott, 22, made the statement in January 2014 at an alternative school in Kansas City, The Kansas City Star reported.
Prosecutors announced Tuesday that Scott, who is black, was charged in two killings and was a suspect in three more.
The first four victims were killed in secluded areas, mostly on or near hiking and biking trails in the area.
But Scott became over-confident and was captured after claiming his fifth and final victim in broad daylight on a city street and then getting on a bus, police told The Star.
In an interview with The Star, Scott’s mother said that he refused to get treatment for paranoid schizophrenia but did not show any hatred toward white people.
Scott was cited in Kansas City municipal court in 2013 for assault on his mother, accused of shoving her several times.
‘As far as I know Fredrick never had a problem with white people,’ his mother said. ‘He would do odd jobs for people and some of those people were white men.’
Scott (pictured_ is believed to have murdered the middle-aged men men between August 19, 2016 and August 13 of this year near Indian Creek trail in Kansas City, Missouri
Steven Gibbons, 57 (left), is the fifth and final victim, and was shot in the head in broad daylight. DNA linked Scott to his murder and to that of first victim John Palmer, 54 (right), police said
Despite Scott’s comments, police said they are not certain if the killings were racially motivated.
All five were killed with varying types of ammunition, most in just one shot.
Four of the victims were shot in the head and most were killed near trails in quieter areas of Kansas City.
But at noon on August 13, the last victim, 57-year-old Steven Gibbons, got off a bus in Kansas City, unaware that Scott, who had been on the bus with him, was close behind, police claim.
Despite the fact that it was broad daylight, Scott shot him in the back of the head before turning around and getting on another bus, according to authorities.
Gibbons, whose body was found in the 1100 block of East 67th Street, survived on life support for more than a day before succumbing to his wounds.
This was a break in Scott’s usual pattern of secluded killings – and led to his capture after video footage of the men was taken from the bus, police said.
Many of the victims were found close to the Indian Creek Trail and its associated trail, leading to the deaths being dubbed the ‘Indian Creek Murders’. The slain men were John Palmer (1), David Lenox (2), Timothy S Rice (3), Mike Darby (4) and Steven Gibbons (5)
Scott (left) said he was angry about his brother’s death in a robbery in 2015. The man convicted of that killing, Jimmie Verge (right), was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Friday
Detectives pulled DNA off of an iced tea bottle and cigarette he was seen dropping on CCTV near Gibbons’s death, and matched them to Scott, they claim.
They say Scott had been mowing lawns to make money, and working at a Burger King close to the site of three of the murder scenes.
When questioned, Scott admitted that he used a 9mm handgun recovered by police to kill Gibbons, police said. He allegedly said it went off accidentally when he took it out of his pocket.
But he also claimed that he used the Indian Creek trails regularly and visited a friend close to where one of the victims was killed.
Police also Scott ‘repeatedly’ said he was furious about the death of his own brother, Gerrod H Woods, 23, in 2015.
In an interview with The Star, Scott’s mother that her son (pictured) refused to get treatment for paranoid schizophrenia but did not show any hatred toward white people
When questioned, Scott (left and right) admitted that he used a 9mm handgun recovered by police to kill Gibbons, police said. He allegedly said it went off accidentally when he took it out of his pocket
He was shot dead on December 14 of that year in a robbery, along with another man. On Friday, the man convicted in those killings – Jimmie Verge, a 22-year-old black male – was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Scott has been charged with the death of not just Gibbons, but also John Palmer, 54, the first of the supposed ‘Indian Creek Killer’.
Police are now working to link Scott to the other deaths linked to the killer: David Lenox, 67; Timothy S Rice, 57; and Mike Darby, 61.
Police say they need the public’s help to connect all five of the murders.
‘If you have seen the defendant in the area of these homicides, or in the area of south Kansas City, please call us,’ said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.
‘If you heard shots in the area of these homicides, we’re asking that you please call us.’