Local News

Man Who Allegedly Shot Three in Taylorville Monday Dies

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 08:10:09 CDT

The man who shot himself after he allegedly shot and wounded three people in Taylorville Monday morning has died.

Lee Wayne Kennedy was pronounced dead at 12:33 p.m. Tuesday at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, according to Sangamon County Coroner Cinda Edwards.

Kennedy, 43, opened fire on a home on South Walnut Street in Taylorville at 5 a.m. Monday, wounding three people, including Kennedy's 13-year-old daughter, the girl's mother and a Sangamon County man who was at the house. Each victim suffered non-life threatening injuries.

After the shooting, Kennedy drove to Hillsboro and left the white truck he was driving in the McDonald's parking lot. The sighting of the vehicle prompted Hillsboro School officials to place schools on administrative lockdown. After leaving his truck, he allegedly stole a car from Hillsboro, then robbed a convenience store in Stonington.

After the robbery, he led police on a pursuit that ended in front of Taylorville Memorial Hospital at 4 p.m. when the suspect turned a gun he had on himself and shot himself in the head. He was taken inside the Taylorville Hospital for treatment before being transferred to Memorial Medical Center in Springfield.

The mother of the 13-year-old victim had filed an order of protection last month against Kennedy. The order came after the woman claimed Kennedy threatened her and then threatened suicide. The identities of the victims are not being released at this time.