A lone gunman killed six folks together with his ex-wife and stepfather Friday at a number of places in a tiny rural neighborhood in northern Mississippi, the sheriff mentioned, leaving investigators trying to find clues to what motivated the stunning rampage. Armed with a shotgun and two handguns, 52-year-old Richard Dale Crum opened fireplace at about 11 am and killed a person within the driver’s seat of a pickup truck parked exterior a comfort retailer in Arkabutla, close to the Tennessee state line, Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance mentioned.

Deputies have been working the crime scene when a second 911 name alerted authorities to a different taking pictures a couple of miles away. After arriving at a house, they discovered a lady, whom the sheriff recognized as Crum’s ex-wife, shot lifeless and her present husband wounded.

Lance mentioned deputies caught up with Crum exterior his own residence and arrested him. Behind the residence they discovered two handymen slain by gunfire – one within the highway, one other in an SUV. Inside a neighbouring house, they found the our bodies of Crum’s stepfather and his stepfather’s sister.

“Everyone has crime, and infrequently we’ve got violent crime, however actually nothing of this magnitude,” Lance mentioned in an interview. He added: “With out having the ability to say what triggered this, that is the scary half.”

Crum, 52, was jailed with out bond on a single cost of capital homicide, and Lance mentioned investigators have been working to deliver extra fees. It was not instantly identified if Crum had an lawyer who may converse on his behalf.

That preliminary homicide cost was for the killing of Chris Eugene Boyce, 59, the person who was shot exterior the shop. Boyce’s brother was within the truck with him on the time and fled, in accordance with the sheriff. Lance added that Crum chased the brother by way of a wooded space earlier than he escaped unhurt.

“I heard the gunshot from inside my home,” Ethan Money, who lives close to the shop, instructed WREG-TV. “I had simply woken up and I look again right here, and I see dude strolling again right here with a shotgun.” Money mentioned he went to the scene and located one one who had been shot. He mentioned he checked for a pulse however discovered none.

Within the foyer of the Sheriff’s Workplace, Norma Washington instructed The Related Press that Chris Boyce was her nephew and he was from Florida. She mentioned he and the brother, Doug, who lives in Alaska, had been on the town cleansing up a property they inherited from their deceased uncle.

“I misplaced my brother, and now this one,” Washington mentioned. “This has been one thing else.”

It was unclear whether or not Crum knew both of the brothers.

The killings surprised residents of Arkabutla, house to 285 folks and positioned about 50 kilometers south of Memphis, Tennessee. It is the hometown of famed actor James Earl Jones, and close by Arkabutla Lake is a well-liked fishing and leisure vacation spot.

An elementary faculty and a highschool in close by Coldwater each went on lockdown whereas the suspect was being sought, in accordance with the Coldwater Elementary College Fb web page. A short while later, a second put up on the web page mentioned the lockdown had been lifted and “all college students and workers are secure.”

April Wade, who lives in Arkabutla and grew up in Coldwater, mentioned each are small communities the place most individuals know one another, “however if you happen to do not, someone who is aware of someone.”

Talking from a neighborhood tire retailer within the afternoon, Wade mentioned she and her husband have been conscious of the shootings however had not but heard the names of the suspect or victims.

“I believe it is loopy,” Wade mentioned. “You don’t anticipate one thing like that to occur so near house.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives mentioned its brokers have been offering help to the sheriff’s division and state investigators. Lance mentioned one among their high priorities was to find out a motive.

The sheriff, who has lived within the space his complete life and served in regulation enforcement for 25 years, mentioned he may recall no prior issues with Crum.

The shootings are the primary mass killing within the US since January 23, which noticed the final of six in a three-week interval, in accordance with an Related Press/USA Right this moment database. It defines a mass killing as 4 or extra folks lifeless, not together with the perpetrator.

In a press release, President Joe Biden mentioned he and first woman Jill Biden have been mourning the six victims and praying for the survivors. He urged Congress to behave now on gun regulation reforms to deal with what he known as “an epidemic” of gun violence.