A man who deputies say shot and killed three people in a Lakeland home over the week-end, was taken into custody on Tuesday afternoon in Tennessee.
David Eugene Smith, 27, was taken to a hospital suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a SWAT standoff in Knoxville, officials said.
Smith, who investigators say is delusional, is wanted for murdering three people, including his sister, at a home in the 5600 block of Old Highway 37 in Lakeland.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd identified the victims as Smith’s sister, Danyala Smith, Ni’Kosi Williams, of Lakeland; and 28-year-old Miranda Mims, a friend of Danyala.
Danyala Smith is the mother of the 14-year-old girl who arrived home on Monday from an ROTC weekend event, to find her shot to death.
When deputies responded to the home they found, Williams and Mims, also shot dead inside the residence.
Investigators said, Smith refers to himself as “Prince David,” and is delusional. According to reports, Smith’s mother said her son served on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffers from PTSD.
Judd said the teen was doing as well as expected after finding her mother murdered.
“I consider her exceptionally lucky she wasn’t in the house this weekend,” Judd said, Local 6 reported. “At that point in time, he killed everyone in the house, and he wouldn’t have spared her life if she was in the house.”
