WESH: “On Thursday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held a news conference regarding the massacre of four people in Lakeland that occurred over the weekend. ‘We have a family going through something right now no family should ever have to go through,’ Judd said. The sheriff stated he is going to try to answer the question: ‘How did this evil person’ find the victims? Judd reiterated there was no relationship between Brian Riley, 33, and the victims, but investigators now know why he came across the victims in the first place.”

“According to Judd, a witness that lives in the area said he spoke to his friend Brian Riley a few days before the massacre, and Riley said he was planning to help with Hurricane Ida. Judd said Riley was at his friend’s home picking up the first aid kit around 7 p.m. Saturday in the area. Just after 7 p.m. was when Riley approached noticed Justice Gleason mowing his lawn. Riley approached 40-year-old Gleason and told him God gave him a vision that his daughter ‘Amber’ would commit suicide. Gleason told him there was no one there by that name. Gleason threatened to call the police and Riley reportedly said, ‘No need to call the cops, I’m the cops for God’ before leaving. ‘He drove off mad,’ Judd said. ‘But never did Brian Riley make a threat – just a bizarre, irrational statement.’ Judd said investigators now know that Riley was ‘very angry’ because he thought Gleason kept him from seeing the person he believed would commit suicide. According to investigators, Riley said he then received another statement from God. ‘God told me to kill everyone and rescue Amber because she is a victim of sex trafficking,’ Riley told police.”