Gunman told friend he needed an exorcism

Here's a fascinating story from Potomac News Online that touches on an area that fascinates me and that is where one draws the line between mental illness caused by chemical imbalance in the brain and demonic involvement. I remember interviewing a priest who took part in deliverance ministries who told me that he believe demonic forces could take advantage of organically caused mental illness.

In the minutes before Michael Kennedy died after firing 70 rounds on Fairfax County police, the teenager told a friend that he needed an exorcism.

Virginia Commonwealth University student Daniel Sforza said he was exchanging instant messages by computer with Kennedy on Monday afternoon until about 3 p.m. Less than an hour later, police say, Kennedy ran through a police station parking lot near Chantilly with an AK-47, shooting three officers and killing one of them, Detective Vicky Armel. Kennedy, 18, died when police returned fire.

"He was very upset," Sforza said Tuesday. "What he told me was he wanted to get an exorcism because he felt like medication, therapy, doctors ... nothing helped him. There's something possessing him to make him feel so miserable. And he said, 'The last thing I can think of is an exorcism.' "

Kennedy told him nothing of his plans to gun down the officers as they left the Sully District police station, Sforza said.

Sforza said he encouraged Kennedy to do his best to figure out what would help him.

"He was always searching for an answer to his problem," Sforza said.

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Neighbors said they saw little of Kennedy or his father at their residence, although the teen's younger sister frequently rode a scooter near the London Towne townhouse section where the family has lived for the past decade.

"He was quiet. He stayed indoors a lot," Mavis Powell said.

On Kennedy's MySpace.com site earlier this spring, some friends had expressed concern about his whereabouts.

Friends said Kennedy's mental health had deteriorated in the past few months and that he had delusions and hallucinations.

Sforza, who graduated with Kennedy last year from Westfield High School in Fairfax County, said that Kennedy's struggles with his mental health became apparent during their senior year.

Sforza said he would often drive to Kennedy's house to pick him up after Kennedy argued with his parents. He would listen to Kennedy's suspicious railings against the government and world conspiracies, and felt that Kennedy in turn listened to him.

"He thought he was Jesus. He talked about aliens," said Brandon Baker, a friend of Kennedy's since sixth grade. Baker said Kennedy told him he sometimes took medication. "He was talking about how he was superhuman."

Kennedy had also recently changed his MySpace profile name from Kennedy to "Herr Azriel," in reference to an angel of destruction.

On his Web site, Kennedy wrote: "sorry to all the people i hurt." It was not clear when he wrote that apology.

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High school classmates knew Kennedy as someone who played video games and felt harassed because of his appearance and dark clothes, according to Christine Craig, another friend and Westfield graduate.

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After graduation, Kennedy attended Northern Virginia Community College and worked at a drugstore, Sforza said. He considered Kennedy one of his best friends.

"I know what he did was horrible, but he was just so confused."

A.J. Hostetler is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Times-Dispatch staff writers Kiran Krishnamurthy and Rex Springston contributed to this report.