A gunman went on a rampage in a small Mississippi town on Friday, killing his ex-wife and five other people in three locations before sheriff’s deputies arrested him, the county sheriff and witnesses said.
The shooting occurred in Arkabutla, a sleepy hamlet inhabited by fewer than 300 people, in Tate County in northern Mississippi, U.S., about 60 km south of Memphis, Tennessee.
The gunman, identified as Richard Dale Crum, 51, was charged with first-degree murder, Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance told reporters.
President Joe Biden condemned the shooting and urged Congress to enact gun control including background checks, an assault weapons ban and requiring the safe storage of guns.
Investigators had yet to ascertain a motive, but Sheriff Lance said they would start by examining the suspect’s relationship with his ex-wife.
Authorities first received a call about a shooting at a gas station convenience store, and before deputies arrived they received another call about a second shooting at a nearby home.
One man was shot dead at the store. A woman, later determined to be Crum’s ex-wife, was found dead at the home.
Deputies tracked down the suspect in the driveway of another home, which turned out to be the gunman’s own home, and arrested him without a struggle. The officers found four more bodies nearby: two behind the home and two in the roadway.
The suspect may have had a family connection with the victims behind the house. The others appeared to have been workers on a job at the site.
According to Sheriff Lance, Deputies recovered a shotgun and two handguns from the suspect. – Reuters