Released Mental Patient Kills 5 Relatives, Self

Hours after checking out of a psychiatric ward, a riverboat pilot shot five family members to death, then killed himself with his last bullet at his favorite childhood fishing spot, police said Friday.

Mark Storm, 30, who checked into the Ohio Valley Medical Center on Sunday, left Thursday, making plans for a follow-up visit, then went with his family to a party for a neighbor’s daughter.

That night, he shot his wife, their two young daughters, his mother and his brother in the head with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, Police Chief Ed Long said.

Storm then shot himself outside his mother’s home on Wheeling Island, tumbling into the Ohio River where he fished as a youth, Long said.

Long said no motive was known but that Storm suffered from stress and panic disorder and was on leave from his job.

The hospital’s corporate parent said Storm would not have been allowed to leave if he was considered dangerous.

Police said Storm killed his wife, Betty, 26, in their living room, then shot Jessica, 8, and Megan, 3, as they lay in their bunk beds at their home about 50 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

He then drove about 2 1/2 miles to another house, where he shot his brother, Benjamin Storm, 32, and their 59-year-old mother, Roberta Nyles.