The man accused of shooting three people on the campus of Florida State University early Thursday morning had abruptly resigned from his job as an assistant prosecutor in New Mexico, and his ex-girlfriend told police he was suffering from mental problems that were getting worse.
Myron May, who was killed by police after shooting students and an employee in FSU's Strozier Library, went to the police station in Las Cruces, N.M., to report his belief that a camera had been planted in his apartment and he could hear voices of people talking about him.
At the time, May, 31, was an associate trial attorney in the felony division of the Third Judicial District Attorney's Office in Las Cruces. He'd previously worked in the area as a public defender. District Attorney Mark D'Antonio said his colleagues saw no sign of May's mental decline.
'I nearly fell off the chair,' D'Antonio said Friday, describing when he learned of the shooting. 'It was as shocking to me as it could have been. The staff took it hard. He was very well-liked.'
The visit to the police station happened on Sept. 7.
'He stated that he can constantly hear voices coming through the walls specifically talking about actions he was doing,' an officer wrote in an incident report. As an example, May cited a time he'd climbed out of a bubble bath and began applying lotion.
'He specifically stated he heard voices say, 'Did you see that, he never puts lotion on,' ' the report states.
Police said there was nothing they could do, and May responded that he planned to hire a private investigator and wanted his report documented.
Weeks later, on Oct. 6, May's co-workers arrived at work to find he'd cleaned out his office and left, leaving a resignation letter on his desk. The letter thanked D'Antonio, was professional and showed no sign of a breakdown.
'None of us saw any clue,' D'Antonio said. 'If I had known, we could have gotten him some help. Maybe this wouldn't have happened.'
The next night, police were called to the home of May's ex-girlfriend. May had just left, after showing up rambling and giving her a piece of a car he said was a camera that police had placed in his SUV. May's former girlfriend, who had dated him for about 15 months before breaking up two weeks before, was worried about his state of mind.
'Myron has recently developed a severe mental disorder,' police wrote in a report. 'Myron believes that the police are after him and are bugging his phone and car, as well as placing cameras in his home and car.'
May's ex-girlfriend said he'd been taking prescription medication, and had recently been taken to Mesilla Valley Hospital for a mental health evaluation. He had not made suicidal or homicidal threats, but had been acting erratically.
'He has been staying up four to five days straight with no sleep and recently he took a trip from Las Cruces to Colorado and back again in one day with no reason,' an officer wrote.
Police went to May's apartment to check on his well being, but he wasn't home. They issued an alert for his vehicle for an 'officer's safety/welfare check.'
Three weeks ago, May moved back to the Florida Panhandle town where he grew up, Wewahitchka, about 30 minutes east of Panama City near Apalachicola National Forest. He was staying in a guest house at the Taunton Family Children's Home, which was owned by longtime family friends.
May was also a member of a Facebook group called 'Targeted Individuals International.' Targeted Individuals are people -- often seen as conspiratorial or delusional -- who contend they are targets of spying, harassment or abuse, sometimes by electromagnetic radiation weaponry.
On Friday, NBC News reported that May had reached out to another 'targeted individual,' Renee Pittman Mitchell, about a week ago through Facebook.
'He told me he just didn't want to go on living like this,' Mitchell told NBC News. She said May left her three voicemails between 9:19 p.m. and 9:42 p.m. Wednesday, just hours before the shooting.
'I am currently being cooked in my chair. I devised a scheme where I was going to expose this once and for all and I really need you,' he said in one of the messages, which was provided to NBC News and authenticated by a relative as May's voice. 'I do not want to die in vain.'
In an email he sent at 11:19 p.m. -- just over an hour before the shooting -- he wrote: 'I've been getting hit with the direct energy weapon in my chest all evening. It hurts really bad right now.'
May's Facebook page shows that he recently shared a link to a video interview from the television show 'Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura' that featured an interview with Dr. Robert Duncan, 'who put together the technology that allows the government to transmit thoughts and voices into the heads of Americans.'
May shared the video with this comment: 'IS OUR GOVERNMENT VIOLATING ORDINARY CITIZENS' RIGHTS? UNFORTUNATELY, THE ANSWER IS YES! SEE INSIDE THIS VIDEO.'
On Thursday, Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo said May had a journal and videos in which
he talked of being targeted, and that he 'was in a state of crisis.'
Amy Hoffman, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist in Winter Park, said the type of delusions described in police reports are likely a sign of serious mental illness.
'Paranoid delusions of this nature can be associated with major mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or in some cases bipolar disorder,' Hoffman said.
It's unclear whether May, 31, had exhibited any sign of a mental health problem before the past few months.
'Typically, the age of onset for a major mental illness in males is the early 20s,' Hoffman said.
Classes resumed at FSU on Friday.
Police said Friday they had no updates on the case.
Hospital officials said the other two victims had requested that no other information about them be released.
Aaron Deslatte contributed to this report.
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