Authorities identified the shooter as Michael McLendon, 28, of Kinston, Alabama, in Coffee County.

CNN: Gunman in Alabama slayings was briefly a police officer

Coffee County District Attorney Gary McAliley told the newspaper in nearby Dothan that McLendon likely planned the rampage for a while.

CNN: Gunman in Alabama slayings was briefly a police officer

He had formed this force when he became sheriff, appointed by the old friend, Governor Jim Folsom, with whom he had grown up in the tiny town of Elba, on the Pea River in Coffee County.

ECONOMIST: Jim Clark