Michael William Kennedy was mentally unstable and had run-ins with police in the months before Monday’s deadly rampage.
Lifelong friend and neighbor Ryan Gwin told The Examiner on Tuesday that Kennedy was a “nice guy” but was schizophrenic and suffered from hallucinations of the world coming under attack from zombies.
His friends “knew he was stockpiling stuff against this army of zombies, guns and ammo, but they didn’t think he would actually go and do something like this,” said Gwin, 20, of Gainesville.
Kennedy checked himself into the Potomac Ridge Behavioral Health Center in Rockville on April 18, but broke a window to leave the voluntary facility later that evening, said Euphia Smith, a spokeswoman for the center.
She declined to comment on Kennedy’s mental health and added that he did not stay long enough for full evaluation and treatment.
Later that night, authorities said, less than 2 miles from the center, Kennedy claimed to have a gun when he carjacked a Toyota 4-Runner in the 9900 block of Blackwell Road in Rockville. At 10:30 that night, Kennedy turned himself in at the Sully District station.
His parents used the family’s Centreville home as collateral to pay his $30,000 bond, Gwin said.
Maj. Bob Callahan, the Fairfax Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Bureau chief, confirmed Tuesday that officers had prior contact with Kennedy, but would not comment on the 18-year-old’s record.
The Westfield High School graduate was facing a February charge of recklessly handling a firearm, according to Fairfax County court documents.
Fairfax police said that as of Tuesday afternoon they had been unable to reach Kennedy’s parents.
