Law enforcement in Texas County investigating multiple homicides

Authorities in Texas County are working to find a motive after a mass shooting late Thursday night.

Investigators said 9 people were found overnight in Tyrone which is about an hour south of Rolla. That includes the gunman, 36-year-old Joseph Aldridge, who was found dead in his car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Seven of those victims were shot to death and the gunman’s mother who was also found dead, died of natural causes.

The Texas County Sheriff and Missouri Highway Patrol released several names in the mass shooting that happened in the mass shooting.

Sgt. Jeff Kinder with Highway Patrol said the shooter was 36-year-old Joseph Aldridge. He was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 5:30 Friday morning in a GMC pickup on Highway WW in Shannon County, about 15 to 20 miles from Tyrone.

Deputies found a handgun and additional ammunition in the truck.

Four of the seven shooting victims include 52-year-old Garold Aldridge and 47-year-old Julie Aldridge, who were husband and wife, as well
as Harold Aldridge and Janell Aldridge, also husband and wife.

Highway Patrol said they are all believed to be cousins of the shooter.

The other three victims’ names are not being released until family can be notified, but officials said they’re not all in the same family.

Texas County Sheriff James Sigman said the elderly woman who died from natural causes was 74-year-old Alice Aldridge. She was the mother of the shooter,
Joseph Aldridge.

Her autopsy is scheduled for Saturday.

The Highway Patrol said all of the victims lived within a three mile radius in Tyrone.

Sigman said the motive is unknown, as there was no note left by the shooter.

ABC 17 spoke to residents in Tyrone Thursday who said the Aldridge family made up a large percentage of the town, which has about 50 residents.

“It’s so painful to absorb because I know these families, I know they are hard-working American people. Everyone has struggles, and I just prayed instantly that God would
give them all peace and comfort and that’s all I got to say really,” said Joyce Ice, a mail carrier in Tyrone.

Sigman said there was no sign of forced entry in any of the five homes, and urges families in the area to start locking their doors.

Officials said the last murder in Texas County was more than a year and a half ago. They said this is the largest mass shooting in the area’s history.