The assailant was identified as 52-year-old Richard Dale Crum. The attack happened in the town of Arkabutla, with 300 inhabitants.
USA suffered again this Friday a tragic shooting. On this occasion, an armed man killed six peopleincluding his ex-wife and stepfather, in a rural town in Mississippi, in the south of the country. President Joe Biden lamented the deaths and called for tightening gun controls.
As reported by the local police, the shooter, who is already in custody, carried out several attacks in different parts of the small town of Arkabutla, of barely 300 inhabitants. It all started around 11, when she stopped at a store and shot at a person that he was inside a car, fatally wounding him.
From there he went to a nearby house, where killed a womanwho was later identified as his ex-wife, and hit her fiancé.
The violent sequence did not end at that point. From there, he drove his vehicle to his own home and murdered two other people who were in the area: one in a small path behind the house and the other inside a vehicle, as specified by Sheriff Brad Lance in dialogue with CNN.
Finally, the Police chased him to a second house, where he was arrested. In that place they found two other fatalities: the shooter’s stepfather and the stepfather’s sister. In addition, they seized several pistols and a shotgun from the suspect’s car.
There was also a gunshot wound, which was treated by emergency teams and did not need to be transferred to a hospital for further treatment.
The Tate County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspected shooter as Richard Dale Crum, 52 years old. Authorities are still investigating the motive for the shooting.
Meanwhile, the fatalities They were identified as Debra Crum, 60; Charles Manuel, 76; John Rorie, 59; George McCain, 78; Lynda McCain, 78, and Chris Eugene Boyce, 59
In a statement posted on Twitter, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said the suspect was in custody and added: “At this time, we believe he acted alone. Reason unknown.”
For his part, President Biden complained: “We are 48 days into the year and our nation has already suffered at least 73 mass shootings. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Gun violence is an epidemic and Congress must act now.” .
In parallel, he again called on Congress to reinstate the national ban on assault rifles that existed between 1994 and 2004, but was opposed by Republicans.
There were an estimated 44,000 gun-related deaths in the United States last year, according to the Gun Violence Archive database.
With information from AFP and AP.