Mississippi Shooting: Six people died after a man armed with three guns shot dead his ex-wife and five others during a rampage in a small rural town in the US state of Mississippi, BBC reported citing police. One person is reported to be injured in the shooting incident. The victims were killed at several locations, including a store and two homes, in Arkabutla.
The lone suspect has been taken into custody, confirmed the police, as reported by BBC. The Tate County sheriff's office identified him as a 52-year-old resident. AFP reported that Memphis-based TV station Action News 5 identified the alleged shooter as Richard Dale Crum.
As per the report, he is being held without bail at the county jail. The suspect has been charged with first-degree murder, with additional charges to be filed in the coming days.
According to a BBC report, the rampage began when the gunman entered a petrol station convenience store at around 11:00 local time (17:00 GMT) and shot a man to whom he is believed to have no apparent connection, Sheriff Brad Lance said.
He then moved to a nearby home where he fatally shot his ex-wife and struck but did not shoot her fiance, according to CNN.
Investigators say the man then drove to a home next to his own residence and shot dead a man who may have been his stepfather, as well as an unnamed woman, a BBC report mentioned citing the New York Times.
He didn’t stop and went to shoot two people, one inside a car and one on the road, not far from his own home. The final two victims appear to have been construction workers on a job at the site, according to Sheriff Lance, BBC added in the report.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves tweeted on Friday that the suspect is believed to have acted alone, although his motive is not yet known.
The state bureau of investigation is helping the police with the investigation.
The deadly shooting comes only days after a man, also with no known motive, killed three people at a university campus in the northern state of Michigan.