ESSEX, Vt. (AP) – A man who allegedly went on a shooting rampage after a fight with his ex-girlfriend was released from one hospital Friday and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at another after a mental health counselor called him suicidal.

Meanwhile, a picture emerged of Christopher A. Williams as an ex-convict with a history of drugs and legal scrapes, one of which had eerie parallels to the circumstances of Thursday’s killings.

In his first court appearance, Williams, 27, pleaded not guilty to two counts each of first-degree murder and attempted murder in Thursday’s shooting spree, which began at his ex-girlfriend’s home, continued at an elementary school and ended at a friend’s home. The school was not in session at the time.

Williams was ordered held without bail.

Confined to a wheelchair, his arms strapped to his sides and his feet shackled to the wheelchair, Williams listened in court as mental health counselor Joan Tracy told Judge Edward Cashman that Williams had said he wanted to drown himself in a toilet after being arrested Thursday.

According to Tracy, Williams was exposed to domestic violence early in his life and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder as a result.

Williams, who shot himself twice in the head after the slayings and tried to shoot a third time but ran out of bullets, appeared listless in court, slumping in his chair and showing no emotion as he sat feet away from victims’ family members.

They were ushered in and out of court and did not speak to reporters.

Acting Chittenden County State’s Attorney Margaret Vincent told the judge Williams confessed to the killings, which came after a fight with ex-girlfriend Andrea Lambesis.

Intent on killing her, he went looking for her but couldn’t find her and fatally shot her mother and a schoolteacher and wounded two others, according to police.

The mother, Linda Lambesis, 57, was killed in her home, which she shared with her daughter and Williams – who was estranged from her daughter but had yet to move out.

Williams then drove to Essex Elementary School, where he fatally shot teacher Mary Alicia Shanks, 56, and wounded school staffer Mary Snedeker, 52, according to Vincent.

Shanks, a second-grade teacher, was shot in her classroom; Snedeker, who was shot through a window, remained hospitalized Friday at Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital, where her condition was downgraded from good to fair, spokesman Mike Noble said.

According to a police affidavit released Friday, Williams got the .45 caliber pistol used in the shootings from friend Chad Johansen after telling him he wanted it because someone had stolen money from him.

After the other shootings, Williams returned to Johansen’s condominium – the gun tucked in his belt – and the two argued before Williams shot him in the hand and the forehead, according to the affidavit by Lt. Bradley LaRose, a police detective. Johansen was in fair condition at the hospital on Friday.

At one point, Williams told Johansen he wanted to kill himself and Johansen told him not to do it on his carpet, according to the affidavit.

Williams, who works at a bakery, had a history of violent threats.

According to police records in Springfield, Mass., Williams once threatened to kill a former girlfriend and her stepmother. The girlfriend, Shakima Borders, had a restraining order in place against him when he called her and said “I’m going to kill you the next time I see you,” according to the police report.

He also called Borders’ stepmother, telling her: “All of y’all are going to die over there tonight,” according to another police report.

Springfield police arrested Williams and charged him with violating a restraining order. But he failed to appear for his court dates and police issued a warrant for his arrest. The case is still pending.

In 2000, he was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of selling drugs in a school zone in Springfield, Mass., according to court records.

In Essex, a bedroom suburb of Burlington, the opening of schools – scheduled for next week – was postponed until Sept. 5 because of the shootings, which seemed to touch everyone.

“The community is just in shock,” said Rep. Linda Myers, R-Essex, who also is a member of the select board. “Even if you don’t really know the people involved, you just kind of feel what has happened. It’s the whole pall hanging over the community. It’s a tough day.”

All day Friday, people stopping outside the fence at Essex Elementary School, some leaving bouquets of flowers with notes attached.

Robert Little, 63, who lives nearby, said the town was in a state of shock.

“You want to use the old cliche that it doesn’t happen here, but it happens here,” Little said. “It’s just a sad thing. I don’t know what words to use,” Little said.

Danny and Christine O’Neill, of Essex Junction, carried a bouquet of pink carnations to the site, wanting to pay his respects.

“It’s just a total tragedy,” O’Neill said. “Vermont doesn’t deserve this.”