Alabama mass-killing suspect Derrick Dearman 'attacked victims with gun and axe as they slept'

An Alabama man high on methamphetamine allegedly used a gun to kill five people before attacking them with an axe in an isolated rural home in Citronelle. According to records obtained by AL.com, Derrick Dearman, 27, shot all of his victims before attacking them with an axe. An Alabama sheriff told AP that the five were attacked as they slept.

Among those he is accused of killing is Chelsea Marie Read, 22, who was five months' pregnant.

After the mass-murder, Dearman allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend, Laneta Lester, and the infant child of one of the people he killed, police said. He drove them to his father's home in Mississippi before handing himself in to officers.

Police said Lester had been hiding in the Citronelle home to escape Dearman, whom she says was physically abusive. Someone in the home called police to say that Dearman was lurking near the property, but he had disappeared by the time that officers arrived. He then allegedly broke into the property at around 1.15am.

He attacked the victims with a gun as they slept and then also used an axe, an Alabama sheriff told AP. He also said he was high on methamphetamine at the time of the attack.

Dearman, of Leakesville, Mississippi, is charged with six counts of capital murder and two counts of kidnapping.