Six people including a 7-year-old girl were killed in rural Mississippi on Friday night in what authorities described as a shooting spree across three different locations by a lone gunman.
The suspect, Daricka Moore, 24, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, which will be upgraded to capital murder with additional murder charges, Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said at a Saturday news conference.
He said a motive for the chilling attacks is unknown, but Scott told NBC News some of the victims were related to the shooter.
Scott laid out a timeline of the killings that unfolded Friday evening.
It started with a 911 call at 6:56 p.m. about gunshot victims at an address on Blake Road in Cedar Bluff, a small and rural unincorporated community in western Clay County.
Scott said investigators determined that Moore first shot and killed his father, Glen Moore, 67, uncle Willie Ed Guines, 55, and his brother Quintin Moore, 33, at a home on David Hill Road in Cedar Bluff.
When deputies arrived at the home, they found the men with gunshot wounds to the head, and they were pronounced deceased.
He then allegedly stole a Ford F-150 truck belonging to his brother Quintin and allegedly traveled to a home on Blake Road — the site of the 911 call.
He allegedly forced his way into the home and “attempted to commit a sexual battery while armed with a handgun,” Scott said. Moore allegedly shot and killed a 7-year-old girl in the home in front of witnesses. Scott said she was also related to the suspect.
When deputies arrived at the scene, they found the child had suffered an apparent gunshot wound to the head, and she was pronounced dead.
Moore is then believed to have fled the home in the stolen truck and eventually went to an address on Siloam-Griffin Road in western Clay County, where police received another 911 call.
At that home, they said, they found the truck Moore allegedly stole hidden behind the house and signs of forced entry at the rear of the home. Inside, they said they found two dead people.
The victims were identified as Barry Bradley and Samuel Bradley from Columbus, both with gunshot wounds to the head and pronounced dead at the scene. It’s unclear why they were targeted, but Scott said one of them was a pastor at a local church.
Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies including the U.S. Marshals later took Moore into custody without incident at the intersection of Pine Grove Road and Joe Myers Road.
He was allegedly found operating a vehicle stolen from the last residence.
Scott said this case was “one of the toughest ones we had to work” in his 30 years of service.
“We all lift our hearts in prayer for the victims and families,” he said, adding the killings are “really shaking our community.”
Scott said the sheriff’s office had no prior run-ins with the suspect or calls to the targeted 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 is ongoing.
District Attorney Scott Colom said the death penalty will be considered in the case.
Austin Mullen contributed.
