MISSISSIPPI – Eight people, including a sheriff’s deputy, have died following a shooting spree in rural Mississippi, according to local authorities.
The shootings occurred at three separate locations around Lincoln County, south of Jackson, Saturday, a spokesperson from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation confirmed to the Associated Press. A suspect has been arrested. No charges have yet been filed.
Investigators are working to determine a motive for the killings.
The shootings reportedly occurred at three separate properties, two in Brookhaven and the third in Bogue Chitto, some 10 miles (16km) away.
The suspect has been identified in local media as Cory Godbolt, 35.
https://twitter.com/AP/status/868883099668668422
Footage of a handcuffed Godbolt being held police on the East Lincoln Road near Brookhaven has been posted by the Clarion Ledger. It purportedly shows the man giving a reporter his versions of events.
In the video, Godbolt says his estranged wife and her partner had been threatening to take away his children.
“Then somebody called the officer, people that didn’t even live at the house. That’s what they do, they intervene and it cost him his life,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
Asked by the reporter what he thinks his future will hold, he replies: “Death”.
“I ran out of bullets. Suicide by cop was my intention. I ain’t fit to live,” he adds.
Mississippi governor Phil Bryant has expressed sympathy for those killed in the shooings. “I ask all Mississippians to join [my wife] Deborah and me in praying for those lost in Lincoln County,” he posted on Facebook.
