Report: Ariz. gunman suicidal in 2001

TUCSON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The troubled nursing student who gunned down three instructors at the University of Arizona on Monday was apparently depressed and suicidal more than a year before he carried out his deadly rampage, the Arizona Daily Star said.

A university police report obtained and published by the newspaper Tuesday was based on the statements of another instructor at the College of Nursing who feared Robert Stewart Flores might attempt to kill himself or others as he struggled with academic, financial and domestic problems.

"He stated he had a lot of problems other than school," a University of Arizona police officer wrote in a three-page report filed on April 24, 2001. The report stemmed from an alleged conversation that Flores had with clinical instructor Melissa Goldsmith regarding a report he been assigned to write.

"He was depressed and thought about 'ending it all,'" the officer wrote. Flores also told Goldsmith that he might "put something under the college."

The "something" apparently referred to a bomb, which contributed to the caution that university and Tucson police exhibited Monday when they called in explosives experts to examine Flores's car and a backpack he had carried with him into the classroom where he killed two of his three victims, before shooting himself.

Police said Flores, 41, apparently first shot Professor Robin Rogers, 50, to death in her office and then went to the fourth-floor classroom where his classmates were busy with their midterm exams.

Witnesses said Flores marched in and shot Professors Barbara Monroe, 45, and Cheryl McGaffic, 44, to death at close range. He allowed the approximately 50 students in the room to flee without interference.

Tucson police officials said Flores had five handguns and 200-250 rounds of ammunition in his possession at the time of the carnage.

"I think that Mr. Flores went in there to create a holy hell for this community," Police Chief Richard Miranda told reporters Monday night.

The College of Nursing building remained closed for the remainder of the week while three neighboring buildings that had been evacuated were re-opened Tuesday. The university was planning a memorial service to be held at a later date.