Motive for Florida Family’s Massacre May Never Be Known: Investigators

Motive for Florida Family’s Massacre May Never Be Known: Investigators
This booking photo shows Bryan Riley, who was arrested in the shooting of four people in Lakeland, Fla., on Sept. 5, 2021. Polk County Sheriff's Office via AP
The Associated Press
Updated:

Investigators say that when they captured Marine veteran Bryan Riley outside the Lakeland, Florida, home where he allegedly killed a couple, their 3-month-old son, and the boy’s grandmother, he told them, “You know why I did this.”

But they say they don’t and, in fact, may never know why Riley launched an attack against a family he had no known connection with, except that he may have been mentally ill. Riley’s girlfriend told investigators that he had been saying he could communicate directly with God.