Child support records possibly linked to shooting

ST. LOUIS -- State officials are reviewing records of child support payments by a man who allegedly went on a deadly shooting rampage because he was enraged he was paying too much.

Herbert Chalmers Jr. killed four women, then himself, in a bloody spree on Tuesday.

Co-workers said he had long complained his paychecks were being wrongly garnisheed; the state Department of Social Services says it plans to find out.

"We're aware of the allegations," department spokeswoman Deborah Scott told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, confirming an internal investigation.

Charles Finninger, who owns Finninger's Catering Service, where Chalmers worked, and whose wife and daughter were among the victims, said he told his employee he couldn't do anything about the child support payments.

"I told him if the state was wrong, then he should fight it," Finninger said. "If it was a mistake, it cost the lives of my family."

The Department of Social Services has blocked reporters' requests for information on Chalmers' child support payments, though a St. Louis judged unsealed part of the court record on the issue.

A Post-Dispatch review of the records appeared to show a significant rise in Chalmers' monthly payments over the last several years.

"What set him off was the fact that they were garnisheeing his check," said James Lee, a 76-year-old co-worker. Lee and another co-worker said Chalmers denied being the father of the three children for whom he was making past-due child support payments.

Jerryl Christmas, a spokesman for Chalmers' family members, said they were unaware of any dispute over paternity.

Police say Chalmers went into Finninger's Catering on Tuesday, and killed two of his bosses, Cleo Finninger, 79, and her daughter, Christine Politte, 44. He then took his own life in the parking lot. Authorities say he killed 35-year-old Carol Moore in her apartment before the workplace shootings.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com