Man Researched Murder-Suicide
S T . L O U I S, July 18 -- The suicidal man who gunned down his estrangedwife and their 10-year-old son at the boy's baseball game had spentthe previous week researching murder-suicides on the Internet,police said Tuesday.
Matthew Toland Sr. may have killed his son Monday night becausethe boy had not properly confided in him about the strainedrelationship between the parents, police Chief Joe Mokwa said.
"He wanted the boy to confide information and the boy didnot," he said.
According to authorities and witnesses, Toland showed up atPenrose Park, pulled out a .357-caliber automatic pistol andfatally shot estranged wife Carmen Anderson as she sat in a car. Hethen shot Matthew twice, and the boy died at the scene in hisblack-and-gold uniform.
Some witnesses said Toland "embraced his son earlier, minutesbefore this transpired," Mokwa said.
No Previous Police Run-Ins
After the gunfire that sent players and parents scrambling, theelder Toland drove off. Police found him 10 miles away in a goldCadillac parked on a freeway's shoulder, dead from a self-inflictedgunshot wound.
Toland, who held an unspecified master's degree, had no previousrun-ins with police and had shown no evidence that he would turnviolent, Mokwa said.
But he said Toland had been online to plan "the demise of hisfamily" since at least July 9.
Friends and acquaintances were stunned.
"It's disbelief, horror," said Jacqueline Turnage, chief ofthe private school Matthew attended as an honor student. "We lovedboth parents, and especially my baby, my young man, a very specialyoung man.
"None of this makes sense."
Slain Boy Excellent Student
The boy's death came in front of at least three classmates whowere on the team. Anderson was watching Matthew from the car whenshe saw her husband approaching, police said. She screamed forMatthew to hurry into the car, but he never made it off the fieldbefore Toland opened fire.
"We heard gunshots and we looked up and we saw him down and sawthe mother's windshield shattered, and she was gone and he wasgone," said Warren Scott, the boy's coach.
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