Authorities in Mississippi have taken a 24-year-old man into custody following a deadly series of shootings that left six people dead, among them a young child and members of the suspect’s own family.
The violence unfolded late Friday in a rural part of the state, where investigators say a single attacker carried out a “shooting spree across three different locations by a lone gunman.” A 7-year-old girl was among those killed.
The suspect, identified as Daricka Moore, was arrested and initially charged with first-degree murder. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said at a news conference on Saturday that the charge will be elevated to capital murder, with additional murder counts expected.
Investigators say they have not yet identified a motive behind the deadly attacks, though Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott told several of the victims were members of the suspect’s family, reports NBC News.
At a briefing, Scott described how the violence unfolded over the course of Friday evening, beginning with a 911 call received at 6:56pm reporting gunshot victims at a residence on Blake Road in Cedar Bluff, a sparsely populated, unincorporated area in western Clay County.
According to investigators, the first killings occurred earlier at a home on David Hill Road in the same community. Scott said the suspect, Daricka Moore, fatally shot his father, Glen Moore, 67; his uncle, Willie Ed Guines, 55; and his brother, Quintin Moore, 33.
Deputies later found all three men inside the house with gunshot wounds to the head and pronounced them dead at the scene.
Authorities believe Moore then took his brother’s Ford F-150 truck and drove to the Blake Road residence, which prompted the initial emergency call. Scott said Moore forced his way into the home and “attempted to commit a sexual battery while armed with a handgun.”
During the incident, Moore allegedly shot and killed a 7-year-old girl in front of witnesses. The child’s mother, who is Moore’s cousin, was inside the home along with three children, the sheriff said.
When deputies arrived, they found the girl with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head, and she was pronounced dead. Scott added that officers discovered a weapon lodged against the head of another young child in the house, and investigators are working to determine whether that child was also shot.
Afterward, Moore is believed to have left the Blake Road home in the stolen truck and later drove to another residence on Siloam-Griffin Road in western Clay County, where authorities received a second 911 call.
At that location, officers found the truck concealed behind the house and signs that the rear of the home had been forcibly entered. Inside, they discovered two additional victims.
Those victims were identified as Barry Bradley and Samuel Bradley of Columbus. Both men had been shot in the head and were declared dead at the scene. Scott said it remains unclear why they were targeted, though one of the victims was a local pastor whose church was attended by some of Moore’s relatives.
Moore was later arrested without resistance by officers from several agencies, including the U.S. Marshals, at the intersection of Pine Grove Road and Joe Myers Road. Authorities said he was driving another stolen vehicle, allegedly taken from the final crime scene.
Scott described the case as “one of the toughest ones we had to work” during his three decades in law enforcement. “We all lift our hearts in prayer for the victims and families,” he said, noting that the killings are “really shaking our community.”
The sheriff also said his office had no previous contact with Moore and had not responded to earlier calls involving any of the affected homes. “I spoke to the family last night, and they just never would’ve believed that he’d be capable of doing something like this,” Scott said.
The investigation remains ongoing. District Attorney Scott Colom said prosecutors will consider seeking the death penalty.
