Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Gunman leaves 6 dead in Mississipp­i town; suspect arrested

- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS

ARKABUTLA, Miss. — A gunman killed six people, including his ex-wife and stepfather, Friday at multiple locations in a rural community in northern Mississipp­i, the sheriff said, leaving investigat­ors searching for clues to what motivated the rampage.

Armed with a shotgun and two handguns, Richard Crum, 52, opened fire about 11 a.m. and killed a man in the driver’s seat of a pickup parked outside a convenienc­e store in Arkabutla, near the Tennessee state line, Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance said.

Deputies were working the crime scene when a second 911 call alerted authoritie­s to another shooting a few miles away. After arriving at a home, they found a woman, whom the sheriff identified as Crum’s ex-wife, shot dead and her current husband wounded.

Lance said deputies caught up with Crum outside his own home and arrested him. Behind the residence, they found two handymen slain by gunfire — one in the road, another in an SUV. Inside a neighborin­g home, they discovered the bodies of Crum’s stepfather and his stepfather’s sister.

“Everybody has crime, and from time to time we have violent crime, but certainly nothing of this magnitude,” Lance said in an interview. He added: “Without being able to say what triggered this, that’s the scary part.”

Crum, was jailed without bail on a single charge of capital murder. Lance said investigat­ors were working to bring additional charges. It was not immediatel­y known whether Crum had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

That initial murder charge was for the killing of Chris Boyce, 59, the man who was shot outside the store. Boyce’s brother was in the truck with him at the time and fled, ac

cording to the sheriff. Lance added that Crum chased the brother through a wooded area before he escaped unharmed.

Deputy Tate County Coroner Ernie Lentz identified the others killed as Debra Crum, 60; Charles Manuel, 76; John Rorie, 59; George McCain, 78; and Lynda McCain, 78. Lentz also said Boyce was from Lakeland, Fla.

The killings led to the lockdown of some businesses, as well as Coldwater Elementary, which said in a statement its lockdown was lifted by early afternoon.

The Mississipp­i Bureau of Investigat­ion is investigat­ing and the New Orleans Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is providing assistance in the case. Authoritie­s have not identified the weapon used.

“This is an open and ongoing investigat­ion. No further comment will be made by [Mississipp­i Bureau of Investigat­ion] at this time,” said Bailey Martin, a spokeswoma­n with the Mississipp­i Department of Public Safety.

Lance said one of investigat­ors’ top priorities was to determine a motive.

“We don’t have violent crime in the community very often,” Lance said. “It’s a very safe community.”

Ethan Cash, who lives near the store, told WREG-TV he heard a gunshot from inside his house.

“I had just woken up and I look back here, and I see dude walking back here with a shotgun,” he said.

Cash added that he went to the scene and found one person who had been shot. He checked for a pulse, but found none.

In the lobby of the sheriff’s office, Norma Washington told The Associated Press that Boyce was her nephew. She said he and the brother, Doug, who lives in Alaska, had been in town cleaning up a property they inherited from their deceased uncle.

“I lost my brother, and now this one,” Washington said. “This has been something else.”

It was unclear whether Crum knew either of the brothers.

The killings stunned residents of Arkabutla, home to 285 people and located about 30 miles south of Memphis. It’s the hometown of famed actor James Earl Jones, and nearby Arkabutla Lake is a popular fishing and recreation­al destinatio­n.

An elementary school and a high school in nearby Coldwater both went on lockdown while the suspect was being sought, according to the Coldwater Elementary School Facebook page. A short time later, a second post on the page said the lockdown had been lifted and “all students and staff are safe.”

April Wade, who lives in Arkabutla and grew up in Coldwater, said both are small communitie­s where most people know each other, “but if you don’t, you know somebody who knows somebody.”

Speaking from a local tire store in the afternoon, Wade said she and her husband were aware of the shootings but had not yet heard the names of the suspect or victims.

“I think it’s crazy,” Wade said. “You do not expect something like that to happen so close to home.”

The sheriff, who has lived in the area his entire life and served in law enforcemen­t for 25 years, said he could recall no prior problems with Crum.

The incident is the latest in a string of deadly gun violence this year, including a shooting that killed three students at Michigan State University earlier this week.

The Arkabutla shootings are the first mass killing in the U.S. since Jan. 23, which saw the last of six in a three-week period, according to an Associated Press/ USA Today database. It defines a mass killing as four or more people dead, not including the perpetrato­r.

Mississipp­i Gov. Tate Reeves said he had been briefed on the shootings.

“I will ensure that the full resources of the state are available to law enforcemen­t as we continue to investigat­e the situation,” the governor said in a statement. “Please pray for the victims of this tragic violence and their families at this time.”

In a statement, President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were mourning the six victims and praying for the survivors. He urged Congress to act now on gun law reforms to address what he called “an epidemic” of gun violence.

Informatio­n for this article was contribute­d by Michael Goldberg, Emily Wagster Pettus, Jeff Amy and Russ Bynum of The Associated Press; by Kyle Rempfer and Anumita Kaur of The Washington Post; and by McKenna Oxenden and Eduardo Medina of The New York Times.

 ?? (AP/Nikki Boertman) ?? Authoritie­s investigat­e the scene of multiple shootings Friday on Arkabutla Dam Road in Arkabutla, Miss.
(AP/Nikki Boertman) Authoritie­s investigat­e the scene of multiple shootings Friday on Arkabutla Dam Road in Arkabutla, Miss.
 ?? (AP/Tate County Sherrif’s Office) ?? Richard Crum, 52, was being held without bail on a single murder charge in Friday’s shootings.
(AP/Tate County Sherrif’s Office) Richard Crum, 52, was being held without bail on a single murder charge in Friday’s shootings.

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