A man enraged over how his wife cooked his eggs shot and killed her, his stepdaughter and three witnesses with a shotgun before killing himself on Saturday, a relative of two of the victims said.
Trooper Jody Sims of the Kentucky State Police said 47-year-old Stanley Neace killed the five people in two mobile homes around 11:30 a.m., then went to his home and turned the gun on himself.
Sims said that when state police arrived about an hour after the gunfire began, they heard a single shot and found Neace's body on the porch of his home in the mobile home park outside Jackson in Breathitt County. The county is home to about 16,000 people in the rugged eastern part of the state.
Sherri Anne Robinson, a relative of two of the victims, said witnesses to the shootings told her that Neace became enraged when his wife did not cook his breakfast to his liking.
Robinson said that when his wife fled to a neighbor's trailer, Neace followed and shot her and the others. Robinson says he allowed a young girl to flee.
"He just got mad at his wife for not making his breakfast right and he shot her," said Robinson, who answered at a phone listing for Neace. "She tried to run to tell my family and he shot them too because they found out about it."
The victims were identified as the gunman's wife, Sandra Neace, 54; her daughter Sandra R. Strong, 28; and neighbors Dennis Turner, 31; Teresa Fugate, 30; and Tammy Kilborn, 40.
The names of the victims were provided by Kentucky State Police, while Robinson described their relationships. Fugate is Robinson's sister, Turner is her cousin and Kilborn was a witness who happened to step onto the porch of another trailer when she heard the commotion.
Robinson said Fugate was shot in front of her 7-year-old daughter.
"Her daughter said, 'Please, please don't shoot me,' and he said, 'All right, you can leave,' and she ran out," said Robinson, who spoke to her niece after the shootings. "She went and told her neighbors, and the neighbors called the law."
Robinson says Neace had never appeared threatening to her, but that he was known to have a violent history. Trooper Jody Sims with the Kentucky State Police could not confirm that Neace had a criminal record.
County prosecutor Brendon Miller said his dealings with Neace came on nonviolent issues involving child support. He also was in Miller's office a month ago regarding a traffic ticket.
"I haven't dealt with him much on anything serious," Miller said.
Authorities started receiving calls from concerned neighbors around 11:30 in the rural unincorporated community of Mount Carmel, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Lexington. Sims said when they arrived about an hour later, they heard a single gunshot, then found Neace's body on his porch. He used a 12-gauge during the attacks.
They found victims in two other trailers. Other neighbors fled the trailer park in fear for their lives during the shootings.
"Over eggs?" Robinson said. "I thought that was crazy. Really. I mean just because his eggs weren't hot?"