More Details Emerge on Mass. Office Shootings

Dec. 29 -- As Massachusetts authorities continue a probe into what may have led a software tester on a vicious rampage through his office building on Tuesday, more details are emerging about the days and minutes leading up to the deadly shootings.

Thirty-six hours before the shooting spree that killed seven, police were looking for 42-year old Michael McDermott for allegedly test-firing a shotgun on a street, a gun that may have been used in the office slayings at Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, Mass., according to published reports.

Authorities in the Haverhill area where McDermott lived were investigating reports from a resident who said he heard “five to seven” shotgun blasts late Christmas Eve.

McDermott’s car, with its distinctive “Mucko” vanity license plate, was spotted on a street where two spent shotgun shells were found, butpolice were unable to locate him until he was arrested on Tuesday.

McDermott often went by the nickname “Mucko,” which originated when his nieces and nephews could not pronounce his first name.

Haverhill police ran a check on the plate and went by McDermott’s address several times on Christmas Day but never saw the car there, according to Sgt. Stephen Brighi.

Surrounding departments were also on the lookout for McDermott. “With a little bit of luck, we could have changed history,” Brighi told the Boston Herald.

Possible ‘Prozac’ Defense

In another report that could provide insight into a motive for the slayings, The Boston Globe said today that just minutes before the mass killing, McDermott received a brief telephone callfrom a financial company informing him that his car would berepossessed. The Internal Revenue Service was also considering garnishment of the suspect’s wages, officials said.

The Globe, citing “a source familiar with the call,” said aChrysler Financial supervisor told McDermott his 1994 PlymouthAcclaim, with a book value of $5,390, would be seized fornonpayment of a 1997 loan.