commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It seems like it’s always the season of the domestic mass murderer. A recent perpetrator was a narcissistic individual named Bryan Eugene Sweatt, a 27-year-old resident of lovely Greenwood County, South Carolina. There was nothing lovely, however, about Sweatt’s psyche, as is demonstrated in his (you guessed it) Facebook postings in the days leading up to him laying in wait and slaughtering his estranged girlfriend Chandra Fields, age 26, Chandra’s parents, Richard Allen Fields, 51, and Melissa Kay Fields, 49, and her two nephews, Tariq Kenyon Robinson, 11, and William Asa Robinson, 9. Chandra was the mother of Sweatt’s baby daughter.
According to Greenwood County Sheriff Tony Davis, Sweatt — who had an extensive arrest record and was facing a lengthy prison sentence for a 2013 burglary — used a large-caliber handgun to kill first the victims and then himself. At a press conference, Sheriff Davis stated that the police believe Sweatt ambushed the victims at Chandra’s parents’ house at they arrived home in the afternoon, sometime between 4 and 6 p.m. He apparently bound them with duct tape prior to executing them in unknown order.
The sheriff confirmed that Chandra and Sweatt were in the midst of a custody dispute over their 7-month-old daughter and that police had previously been called out to the residence to defuse domestic disputes. The child was apparently carried to safety at some point during the ambush. Three other children also escaped.
What is odd about this case — not that it does any good now that everyone is dead — is that Sweatt seems to have repeatedly cried out for help in his Facebook postings in the days preceding the mass slayings, and in a 911 call he made while he was holding the victims hostage. It seems unlikely, though, that anyone could have actually helped him, based on the extreme selfishness he has demonstrated both in word and deed.
In an Oct. 9 Facebook posting, Sweatt wrote:
“…i just want someone to talk to and be here with me so bad im just about to get in the truck and ram it in the biggest…pole i can find nobody gives a **** about me…” He went on to say “ive ask for someone to be here for me to take my mind off doing something stupid to hurt myself…”
In a post dated Oct. 20, just nine days before the shooting, Sweatt wrote about his ongoing legal problems. “i hope tha best but i no im gone for a long time i just hope this judge dont slap me with a whole 45years…”
Deputies report that Sweatt called 911 to warn them that he “was feeling on edge” and was planning on “hurting himself” moments before shots were fired. The incident report said a deputy was dispatched to the Callison Highway address.
Here is a transcript of the 911 call. Sweatt sounds eerily calm, though he’s “about to take my life” as well as the life of five innocent victims
Sweatt: “I need an officer to 2007 Callison Highway.”
Operator: “What’s wrong?”
Sweatt: “Oh, I’m just stressed out and I’m about to take my life. I mean…”
” Operator: “What’s your name?”
Sweatt: “It’s unknown.”
Operator: “Do you have a weapon with you?”
Sweatt: “Huh?”
Operator: “Do you have a weapon with you?”
Sweatt: “Yes.”
Operator: “What do you have, sir?”
Sweatt: “A .44″ [Sweatt tells someone to "get in there."] [Victim says "Don't point that at me."]
Operator: “What’s going on?” [Hangs up.]
Dispatch then received a second 911 call from a neighbor’s house, where the surviving children had fled, stating that their mother had been shot.
* * * * *
Conspicuously absent from Sweatt’s pleas for help is any concern whatsoever for anyone other than himself. He repeatedly asks for someone to keep him from “hurting himself” but seems utterly unconcerned with the fate of those that he ultimately murders. This extreme self-absorption is very troubling but is really not surprising in that it seems to be the very essence of the narcissistic criminal mind. Self-absorption, of course, is a marked characteristic of adolescence, and the chronic selfishness of the career criminal suggests that these pariahs have been unable to mature into adulthood.
Sweatt’s selfishness has not only taken the lives of five people and left his 7-month old daughter without parents; it has stunned an entire community.
A neighbor, Jeff Hicks, had known Chandra Field’s parents, Richard and Melissa Fields, for several years and described them as “good people.”
“They always had kids in their yard,” Hicks said. “The kids must have really loved them because they stayed here all the time.”
According to Hicks, he had met Sweatt but they never conversed. “He was just by himself, kind of like a loner.”
Hicks’ home is about 100 yards from the shooting scene, and Hicks said he was home with his daughter Tuesday night when a friend called and warned him not to leave because hostages were being held prisoner in a nearby residence.
As the community attempts to recover, Samantha Parente — who is no doubt voicing the opinion and anguish of much of the community — said she is worried about how her family, including her children, will now cope.
“You see something like this on the news and of course, it’s always somewhere else. And so you think it would never happen here, my kids are free to play outside because we feel safe.”
“Now, it’s scary,” she said. “We definitely have lost that sense of security, for our children, especially.”