The Chicago Tribune reports:

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SUSPECT IN 7 SLAYINGS PLEADS HIS INNOCENCE

By Mark Pratt

Associated Press

December 28, 2000

MALDEN, Mass. -- Investigators seized bombmaking chemicals, blasting caps and magazines on explosives Wednesday from the apartment of a software engineer accused of gunning down seven co-workers at an Internet consulting company.

Michael McDermott, 42, was ordered held without bail Wednesday after pleading not guilty to seven counts of murder.

Prosecutors are investigating whether the rampage was prompted by a tax dispute. McDermott's employer had recently agreed to comply with an IRS order that it withhold a portion of his wages to pay back taxes.

McDermott's lawyer said he was undergoing psychiatric treatment at the time of the attack.

Details that emerged Wednesday formed a picture of a methodical massacre planned by a man with an affinity for arms and explosives.

Armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, McDermott systematically went through Edgewater Technology's Wakefield offices Tuesday morning, picking out certain people as he emptied at least 37 rounds into his co-workers in no more than eight minutes, a prosecutor said.

He stopped to reload, and even blasted through a locked door to get to two of the victims hiding in the accounting office, Assistant Dist. Atty. Tom O'Reilly said.

"There were few, if any, missed shots," he said. One victim "was underneath his desk. He had been shot numerous times. Another was a young lady slumped over her keyboard of her computer. She had been shot in the back of the head."

Some of the victims were shot in the back as they tried to flee, he said.

A woman who survived by hiding under her desk and draping her leather coat over her chair detailed the massacre to police, O'Reilly said.

In addition to the three weapons McDermott carried, he had stashed a rifle in his work locker and bullets in a cubbyhole of his desk, O'Reilly said.

In McDermott's Haverhill, Mass., home, authorities discovered bombmaking magazines, 3 gallons of nitric acid--which can be used to make nitroglycerine--blasting caps, and more ammunition, O'Reilly said.

District Atty. Martha Coakley said investigators had not found any plans he might have had for the explosives.

McDermott had no permit for any of the guns, Coakley said, and authorities were investigating how he got them.

McDermott's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, did not argue for bail but asked that his client be held where he could get care and medication for a psychiatric condition.

McDermott, manacled and dressed in orange jail overalls and black bulletproof vest, looked passively around the courtroom as O'Reilly described the scene. His parents, sitting in the front row, showed no emotion, but Reddington said they were "devastated."

Last week, McDermott had an angry outburst over the tax dispute, according to an employee. Police said an employee told them McDermott's paycheck would have been reduced to as little as $250.

McDermott, an eight-year Navy veteran, was divorced with no children. He had worked at Edgewater since March.

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