Mississippi shooting – latest: Suspect charged with murder for killing six as witnesses describe horror

Richard Dale Crum, 52, has been charged with first-degree murder, after allegedly fatally shooting six people in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on Friday afternoon.

More charges are expected.

“I think it’s crazy,” Arkabutla resident April Wade told The Associated Press. “You do not expect something like that to happen so close to home.

Richard Dale Crum allegedly shot and killed his ex-wife during a mass shooting that left six people dead in rural Mississippi on Friday.

Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance told CNN Mr Crum arrived at this ex-wofe’s home, shooting her and striking her fiancé.

Officials later arrested the alleged gunman in front of his residence.

Those connected to the small town of Arkabutla, Mississippi, are reeling from the news that six people were killed during a series of shootings on Friday.

“I never imagined something like this would happen in Arkabutla,” Brian Lentz of Northwest Mississippi Community College wrote on Twitter on Friday. “To know that one of the crime scenes was on the same road where my parents still live makes this even more unsettling. My hometown is hurting, y’all. This is tough…”

Arkabutla has a population of just 289 people.

Authorities are proving new details about the shooting of six people in the small town of Arkabutla, Mississippi, on Friday.

Tate County sheriff Brad Lance told the New York Times the shooting began around 11am, when suspect Richard Dale Crum killed an apparent stranger at a convenience store.

From there, the alleged gunman drove to the home of his ex-wife and shot her, as well as struck a man who was in the home at the time.

Next, he went to a residence behind his house, shooting a man who investigators believe is Mr Crum’s stepfather, as well as another woman in the house at the time.

Last, he shot two more men on a road near his own home.

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

The New Orleans office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Exposives is helping local officials investigation the Arkabutla shooting, it announced on Friday.

The Mississippi state police are also joining the investigative effort, alongside Tate County officers.

A gun control advocacy group says the Friday shooting in Mississippi should shine a light on the state’s lax gun laws.

“Mississippi has the weakest gun laws in the country and the highest gun death rate,” Everytown for Gun Safety wrote on Twitter on Friday. “More lives claimed by more senseless, preventable gun violence.”

Gunman Richard Dale Crum is accused of killing six people across four different crime scenes on Friday.

Photos from Memphis-based Action News 5 show local sheriff’s deputies conducting a wide-ranging investigation.

A man has been arrested after six people were killed in shootings in the town of Arkabutla in Tate County near the border between Mississippi and Tennessee in the vicinity of Memphis.

A suspect, Richard Dale Crum, 52, has been charged with murder.

It’s thought that he was acting alone but officials have yet to announce a motive.

Tate County sheriff Brad Lance told the New York Times the shooting began around 11am, when suspect Richard Dale Crum killed an apparent stranger at a convenience store.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

Mississippi governor Tate Reeves has responded to the tragic news that six people are dead in a shooting in the town of Arkabutla.

Read his full remarks here.

The US gun violence epidemic shows no signs of slowing down.

There have been 73 mass shootings in America this year, more than one per day, according to the Gun Violence Archive.