Charges drafted as community reels from attack
BROOKHAVEN, Miss. — A Mississippi deputy killed in a shooting rampage had worked in Christian ministry before going into law enforcement, and enjoyed doing puppet shows to deliver uplifting messages to children.
William Durr, 36, was responding to a domestic violence call late Saturday when he was fatally shot in Brookhaven, a south Mississippi city surrounded by pine trees and rolling green pastures. He was one of eight people killed in a shooting rampage at three different homes — an outbreak of violence that has shaken the county of 34,500 residents.
Investigators said Willie Corey Godbolt, 35, will be charged with one count of capital murder and seven counts of first degree murder. Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said the charges could change as the investigation continues.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation identified those killed as: Barbara Mitchell, 55; Brenda May, 53; Tocarra May, 35; Austin Edwards, 11; Jordan Blackwell, 18; Ferral Burage, 45; and Shelia Burage, 46.
Godbolt remained hospitalized in good condition for a gunshot wound Monday in Jackson. It wasn’t clear who shot him.
The Lincoln County Sheriff ’s Department has about 75 employees and is like a close-knit family, said Zach Harveston, who has worked as a dispatcher there for two years. “He loved to lead children to the good Lord,” Harveston said.
Durr was married and had an 11-year-old son.
On Sunday, Vincent Mitchell sat outside his home and tried to make sense of how a family dispute led to a rampage that killed eight people, including the deputy who tried to keep them safe.
“I’m devastated. It don’t seem like it’s real,” Mitchell said shortly after the arrest of Godbolt, his stepson-in-law. “Him and my stepdaughter, they’ve been going back and forth for a couple of years with that domestic violence.”
Godbolt showed up at Mitchell’s home in Bogue Chitto late Saturday to demand that his estranged wife give up their two children.
“He’d come to get his kids. The deputy was called,” and asked him to leave, and it seemed like Godbolt would comply at first, Mitchell said.
“Then he reached in his back pocket and grabbed a gun,” Mitchell said. “He just started shooting everything.”
Mitchell said he escaped along with Godbolt’s wife, but Mitchell’s wife, her sister and one of the wife’s daughters were killed. Authorities said Godbolt fled and killed four more people at two other homes.
Godbolt said he hadn’t planned to be captured alive.
“My intentions was to have God kill me. I ran out of bullets,” he said. “Suicide by cop was my intention.”