Brian Dorian, a 37-year-old police officer in Lynwood, Ill., was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree murder. Three days earlier, he allegedly drove his blue pickup truck up to his would-be victims in two rural towns on opposite sides of the Illinois-Indiana border, asking them odd questions about honey bees or construction materials -- before pulling a gun and opening fire.
It's unclear why Dorian appeared to be obsessed with honey bees, how he chose his victims and why.
Friends and neighbors described Dorian as a friendly man who loves baseball and bow hunting, and dotes on his niece. On his Facebook page, Dorian poses in his police uniform, hugging a young child.
"He's not the guy -- he wouldn't be involved with something like this," his brother Lance Dorian told The Chicago Tribune. Lynwood is about 30 miles south of Chicago.
"I guess I'm still wondering, is this a mistake? Could this really be?" Lynwood Mayor Gene Williams told the same paper, describing Dorian as friendly and respectful.
Dorian's father, John, said his son had been on disability leave from the police force because of a shoulder injury last year. He told The Associated Press he doesn't think his son could have handled a gun, with his ailing shoulder. Brian "is not going to walk up and shoot anyone," he was quoted as saying.
Neighbors said Dorian stopped by some of their houses on Thursday -- two days after the shooting rampage -- and told them he was heading out of town for a college reunion. It's unclear whether Dorian knew police were honing in on him, and whether he planned to flee.
"I'm floored. I don't believe he did it," Robin Schmitz, a neighbor who said Dorian asked her to look after his house while he was away, told Fox News.
The shootings began on Tuesday morning, when police say a disheveled gunman fitting Dorian's description approached a house under construction near rural Beecher, Ill., and opened fire, killing a 45-year-old laborer and seriously wounding his 19-year-old coworker. Another builder fled into a nearby corn field and called 911.
About 40 minutes later, a farmer cross the Indiana border in Lowell was out checking on his bean fields when the gunman pulled up, the victim's brother told the Tribune. He asked the farmer about storing honey bees on his property and then opened fire. The victim, 64-year-old Keith Dahl, played dead while Dorian allegedly stole his wallet and then shot him again.
"Keith said he was holding his breath and not trying to breathe," his brother Robert Dahl told the paper. The bleeding victim managed to drive to the nearest paved road and call police.
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Dorian was arrested Friday at his home in Crete, Ill., and is being held in nearby Joliet on $2.5 million bail, a spokesman for the Will County state's attorney's office told Fox News. A court hearing is set for early next week. The suspect had four pit bulls with him when he was arrested, Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas told CNN.
Police had actually pulled Dorian over on the road last Tuesday afternoon, because his blue pickup truck fit the description of the one used in the shootings. But he flashed his police badge and they let him go, the Tribune reported.
Afterward, Dorian posted a message on his Facebook page: "Holy crap!! I got pulled over in Schererville and ordered out at gunpoint because I matched this lunatic's description. I definitely don't like being on the other side of gun barrels being pointed at me!"
The message is no longer visible on the page, but was first reported by The South Town Star newspaper.
This is not the first time Dorian has been investigated in someone's death. In 2006, he was convicted for speeding in a traffic accident that killed a 17-year-old high school student, Dylan Drapeau. The boy's parents, Kenneth and Sherry Drapeau, said they'd tried unsuccessfully to get prosecutors to charge Dorian with reckless homicide.
Sherry Drapeau told The Associated Press that Dorian's arrest dredges up bitter memories, and that the officer never apologized or showed remorse for her son's death.
Asked whether she thought Dorian was traumatized by his involvement in the teen's 2006 death, Schmitz, his neighbor, told Fox News that he "seemed to have gotten over the accident" and never showed any signs of being "mentally unbalanced."