Qualla: Geneva County Shootings

Geneva County Shootings: Introduction

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Kinston, Alabama has 540 residents. Samson has about 2,000. Geneva is the county seat, a quiet Wiregrass town in the southeastern corner of the state. On the afternoon of March 10, 2009, a 28-year-old man named Michael Kenneth McLendon drove a path of destruction through all three communities in less than an hour, killing ten people and wounding six others in what remains the deadliest mass shooting in Alabama history. The rampage began at his mother's house and ended at a metal building products factory where he had once worked. In between, he murdered members of his own family, shot strangers from his car window, and wounded the Geneva police chief. The towns he tore through were the kind of places where everyone knew everyone, and that closeness, which made the violence so devastating, also shaped the response.

Read more: Geneva County Shootings on Qualla

Geneva County Shootings: An Afternoon Shattered

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At approximately 3:30 p.m. on March 10, McLendon shot and killed his mother at the house they shared in Kinston, then set the interior on fire. He drove to his uncle's house in Samson, where family members and neighbors were gathered on the porch. He opened fire, killing his uncl...

Read more: Geneva County Shootings on Qualla

Geneva County Shootings: The End at Reliable Building Products

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

McLendon's final destination was Reliable Building Products, a facility owned by Ruskin Company in Geneva where he had worked in 2003. He entered the building and engaged in a shootout with pursuing officers before taking his own life. When law enforcement found him dead at 4:17 ...

Read more: Geneva County Shootings on Qualla

Geneva County Shootings: What Led Here

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

McLendon was born on September 19, 1980, in southern Alabama. After his parents divorced, he was largely raised by his aunt and uncle, Phyllis and James White, in Samson, the same family members he would later target. Witnesses said he had been disturbed by the divorce for years....

Read more: Geneva County Shootings on Qualla

Geneva County Shootings: A Community Holds Together

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Alabama Governor Bob Riley traveled to Geneva County the following day, pledging state support to the shattered communities. The Andalusia radio station WAAO-FM organized a fundraising drive with a goal of $10,000 to benefit the victims' families. The response overwhelmed the org...

Read more: Geneva County Shootings on Qualla