PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - The ex-convict who calmly held a school board at gunpoint and then began randomly firing had circled the date on a calendar found in his mobile home, evidence he had been planning the attack for some time, police said.

Bay District officials also confirmed Wednesday that Clay A. Duke's wife had been fired earlier this year from her job teaching special education. Video of Tuesday's meeting showed Duke, 56, complaining about taxes and his wife being fired before shooting at close range as the superintendent begged, "Please don't."








"We could tell by the look in his eyes that this wasn't going to end well," Husfelt told the AP.

Husfelt was calm as he tried to persuade Duke to drop the gun, but Duke just shook his head.




She joked during a Wednesday press conference that her three daughters asked "'Are you just stupid? What were you thinking?' I don't have an answer for that."



lodged in the wall behind him.


City home.

Duke's wife was apparently living with her mother in nearby Lynn Haven. It wasn't clear how long they were living apart, the chief

Tommye Lou Richardson, the district's personnel director, said Rebecca Crowder-Duke was fired from her job as a teacher in February. She had been hired in September 2009 as a primary school teacher for students with special needs but didn't pass her probation. She wasn't able to go into further detail on the reasons.

Richardson said Crowder-Duke had indicated that she felt like there was a violation of her employment rights, but she never filed
a lawsuit.

Crowder-Duke was concerned about her loss of employment, but Richardson said she wouldn't describe her as angry. She hadn't heard from Crowder-Duke since, and wasn't aware until after the shooting that Clay Duke was her husband.

"There were no confrontations," she said. "There were no indications of anything as tragic as this."




At another press conference Wednesday, Rebecca Duke described her husband as a gentle giant.  She said they were frustrated over how and why she lost her job.  She told reporters she regrets her husband's life ended the way it did.






Records show Duke was a licensed massage therapist before his arrest but it wasn't clear if he was employed.

Attorney Ben Bollinger, who represented Duke during his trial, said Duke was waiting in the woods for his ex-wife with a rifle, wearing a mask and a bulletproof vest. She confronted him and then tried to leave in a vehicle, and Duke shot the tires.

Bollinger said as part of Duke's sentence, he was required to complete psychological counseling.