Dwight Lamon Jones, 56, tweeted furiously about his divorce in an effort to alert the media — including CNN, several local television stations, and Phoenix New Times — to allegations that his ex-wife abused their son.
Jones joined Twitter in March and his username on the social network appears to reference his son.
He tweeted about the divorce repeatedly starting on May 14. On May 25, less than a week before he killed renowned forensic psychiatrist Steven Pitt and five other people, Jones spent the afternoon tweeting YouTube videos that addressed the alleged abuse and divorce.
Jones took his own life in a Scottsdale hotel room on Monday morning as a SWAT team prepared to enter.
Dwight Lamon Jones
Scottsdale PD
Police have declined to comment on what motivated Jones to go on a shooting spree almost a decade after his divorce. But Jones' fury at the circumstances of his divorce seems to have mounted during the two weeks before he shot Pitt.
In his tweets to news outlets, Jones referenced sexual predators Larry Nassar, the convicted USA gymnastics doctor, and George Tyndall, a University of Southern California gynecologist accused of sexual misconduct by scores of patients.
"hey @cbs5investigate just like dr.nassar and dr.tyndall,connie p jones of scottsdale az molested my son!" Jones wrote, in one of many tweets he sent on May 25.
Jones linked to videos on his YouTube channel, "exposing lowlifes." In his tweets aimed at the media, he shared the first video in the series repeatedly: "how dr connie p jones got away with child molestation/short version p1."
The YouTube video's description mentions Connie's now-husband, retired police detective Richard Anglin. Dwight Jones writes of her "secret cop boy friend(rick anglin)." The video, narrated by Jones, is framed around a white mask.
Jones attempted to send an identical message to other local news organizations by tagging them in his status updates. On May 25, he tweeted at NBC12 News, 3TV/CBS5, FOX10 Phoenix, New Times' local events Twitter account, CNN, the Arizona Press Club, and HLN's Crime and Justice program. He also tweeted at non-news organizations like Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico, and Twitter itself.
The account has been terminated, so Jones' videos are now unavailable, except for those obtained and published by New Times this week. In other videos that Jones did not tweet, he narrates over a video of Pitt interviewing his ex-wife, saying that she had him committed to a psychiatric hospital. The title of the video calls Connie Jones a "lying female doctor/child molester."
On the same day that he was tweeting at the news organizations, Jones also tweeted one video titled as an open letter to his son.
It appears that Jones also attempted to contact a friend or classmate of his son on March 9. "i tried to tweet him,his mom blocked me and my family 2 keep us apart!" Jones wrote to the individual.
Scottsdale police arrested Jones in 2009 for domestic violence. The police have yet to give a definitive motive for Jones' actions, but in a joint police briefing on Monday afternoon, Scottsdale Commander Richard Slavin suggested that Jones was visiting victims "in an effort to right some wrongs.”
In a statement shortly after the briefing, Connie Jones asked for privacy and said that her family is grappling with "this horrible chain of events."
She said that Anglin, recognizing the victims' connection to her divorce, tipped off the Phoenix Police Department on Saturday night to the possibility of Dwight Jones' involvement. Connie Jones informed the Scottsdale Police Department on Sunday morning, she said.
"Personally, I have feared for my safety for the past nine years," Connie Jones said in the statement. "I cannot express the emotions I feel for the innocent families touched by this senseless violence."
