Portrait of a Patriot

Ken Myers was almost everything a patriot should be.

He loved Jesus:

He’d quote the Bible forward and back, and had talked about becoming a minister at one point.

He was "a faithful follower of Brother John Birch:"

Myers subscribed to the views and philosophy of the John Birch Society and regularly read its publication New American.

He loved the Second Amendment:

Myers’ collection of firearms included SKS and AK-47 military-style assault rifles. He also had other rifles, including a 30.06 and a .303, along with at least two shotguns, two 9 mm handguns, a .22-caliber revolver and a .38-caliber snub-nose pistol. His rifles were equipped with night-vision scopes, and he had night-vision goggles and a Kevlar bullet-proof vest, McLeoud said. He bolted an older Kevlar vest to the inside of his truck for extra protection.

“He’d always carry that snub-nose in his pocket..."

He trained with the best:

Myers, a self-employed glazier, talked frequently about the “militia training’’ he received in Michigan before moving to South Carolina about a decade ago...

And he was prepared for the big FEMA roundup:

On at least four of those trips, Myers took along waterproof, military ammunition cans stocked with survivalist supplies, including antibiotics.

“He’d bury them along the river bank or string them up with ropes in trees that would be used for deer stands,’’ McLeoud said. “He’d tell me, ‘This is how you prepare for things if the shit hits the fan.’’’

With all that going for him, It's hard to believe he'd do something like this:

Myers fatally shot his 25-year-old wife, Angela Myers; her twin sister, Tabatha T. Brown; and their 50-year-old mother, Vicky May Hook Brown; about four miles from Wagener. He also fatally shot his ex-girlfriend, Esther Baldwin, at another location about four miles from the first murder scene.

As police responded, Myers steered his pickup at three officers. The officers, who weren’t injured, were able to fire gunshots at the fleeing vehicle. After a brief chase, Myers drove back to the scene of the triple murders and killed himself with the same shotgun he used earlier, as the deputies arrived, Elwell said.