J. T. Ready

Jason Todd Ready (February 17, 1973 – May 2, 2012) was an American marine, founder and leader of a border militia group, and a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement who sought the elected office of sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona. On May 2, 2012, at Ready's home in Gilbert, Arizona, he shot and killed his girlfriend, her daughter and granddaughter, the daughter's fiancé and himself.

Early years Ready graduated from Mulberry High School in Mulberry, Florida, in 1992. While Ready was in high school at age 18, he was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and criminal mischief for swinging a baseball bat at a car driven by a teenager whom he had an altercation with at a party. He was given a sentence of one year's probation and community service. Convictions in the courts-martial included theft, assault, failure to follow orders, and unauthorized absence. The revelation of this history caused him to be removed as the master of ceremonies for a Mesa, Arizona, Veterans' Day parade in 2006.

Vigilante activities Ready was a founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and the U.S. Border Guard, two armed vigilante groups that patrolled the Arizona–Mexico border searching for illegal immigrants.

Ready was caught forcibly detaining immigrants twice in 2011.

Personal life Ready and his wife Arline Lindgren divorced in 2003. Ready was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 2003 and ordained as an elder by then-Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce. In December 2010, a fellow church member described him as "no longer active" and Ready described himself as a "recovering Mormon". Prior to moving in with Mederos, he worked at an AutoZone auto parts store, from which he was fired.

Gilbert police had responded to a domestic-violence call at the Mederos home once before in February 2012, and a Scottsdale woman had filed an order of protection against Ready in 2009.

Politics Ready was politically active in anti-immigration causes. He served as president of the Mesa Community College Republican Party Club and as a precinct committeeman for the Maricopa County Republicans. Ready unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives in 2004 and for a seat on the city council for Mesa, Arizona, in 2006.

The Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center described Ready as a neo-Nazi. Several Republicans attempted to have him expelled from his position in the party in Maricopa County due to his controversial views. After Ready's murder-suicide, Pearce released a statement saying that he had previously rejected Ready due to his association with "despicable groups in society", and had objected to Ready's position in the Republican Party.

Gilbert shooting On May 2, 2012, Ready entered his home in Gilbert, Arizona, and used a 9mm semi-automatic pistol to fatally shoot his girlfriend Lisa, her daughter Amber, Amber's boyfriend, Jim Hiott, and Amber's infant daughter Lilly. A 9-1-1 call made from the house referred to an argument before the call was interrupted by gunfire. A teenager in the house at the time was in her bedroom and heard an argument, but survived the incident without being shot. an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. He was found dead outside the home near Ready's body.

Local police believe this shooting started as a domestic dispute. No specific motive has been revealed.

According to an autopsy report, the shooter had no drugs or alcohol in his system, he shot himself once in the "right temporal scalp", and a “copper-colored jacketed gray metallic mushroom-shaped bullet” was taken out of the left side of his brain during the autopsy.