Mississippi authorities have a suspect in custody in the overnight shooting deaths of eight people, including a Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy.
Alleged shooter Willie Cory Godbolt, of Bogue Chitto, Mississippi, about 70 miles outside Jackson, has been arrested and charged in the killing spree, investigators said.
The Clarion-Ledger reported that Godbolt's murder spree started late Saturday night when a sheriff's deputy responded to a homeowner who wanted Godbolt removed from their property.
He was arrested Sunday morning after a manhunt involving several police agencies.
Police said the killings occurred at three separate homes in Lincoln County.
It’s unclear whether the attacks were premeditated, and although police say they have identified a motive, they are not releasing it. Authorities have also not yet released the names of the victims.
The Clarion-Ledger interviewed Godbolt, who says he committed the murders because he loved his wife and children and Bogue Chitto.
“I ain’t fit to live, not after what I done,” he said after his arrest. The newspaper recorded video of the suspect talking as he sat with hands cuffed behind his back on a roadside surrounded by law enforcement officers.
Godbolt said he was talking with his wife and members of her family when somebody called authorities.
“I was having a conversation with her stepdaddy and her mama and her, my wife, about me taking my children home,” the suspect says on the video. “Somebody called the officer, people that didn’t even live at the house. That’s what they do. They intervene.”
“They cost him his life,” the suspect said, apparently referring to the slain deputy. “I’m sorry.”
The suspect also said he did not intend for police to capture him alive.
“My intentions was to have God kill me. I ran out of bullets,” he said. “Suicide by cop was my intention.”
Godbolt is jailed on at least eight murder charges as the investigation continues.
Shelby Lin Erdman contributed to this report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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