Mississippi gunman kills 8, officials say
BROOKHAVEN, Miss.— A man who got into an argument with his estranged wife and her family over his children was arrested Sunday after a house-to-house shooting rampage in rural Mississippi that left eight people dead, including his mother-in-lawand a sheriff’s deputy.
“I ain’t fit to live, not after what I done,” a handcuffed Willie Corey Godbolt, 35, told The Clarion-Ledger.
The gunfire erupted Saturday night at Mr. Godbolt’s in-laws’ home in Bogue Chitto after the deputy, William Durr, arrived in response to a domestic disturbance call. The violance spread to two houses in nearby Brookhaven, of Jackson.
Mr. Godbolt was hospitalized in good condition with a gunshot wound, though it wasn’t clear who shot him.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said prosecutors plan to charge Mr. Godbolt with murder. A member of Mr. Godbolt’s church said everyone but the deputy was related to Mr. Godbolt. Mr. Godbolt’s stepfather-in-law, Vincent Mitchell, said that Mr. Godbolt’s wife and their two children had been staying at his Bogue Chitto home for about three weeks after she left her husband because of domestic violence.
“He’d come to get his kids,” Mr. Mitchell said.
Deputy Durr was called and asked Mr. Godbolt to leave, Mr. Mitchell said. “Then he reached in his back pocket and … just started shooting everything,” Mr. Mitchell said.
After fleeing his in-laws’ house, Mr. Godbolt killed four more people at two other homes, officials said. At least seven hours elapsed between the first shootings and Mr. Godbolt’s arrest.