A Mississippi deputy sheriff was among eight people shot and killed Saturday and a suspect in the murders was in custody, The Daily Leader reports. The suspect, Willie Cory Godbolt, 35, confessed to the The Jackson Clarion-Ledger on video.
“I ain’t fit to live, not after what I done,” Godbolt told the paper Sunday after he was apprehended. “Not in y’all eyes, not in nobody else’s eyes.”
He said that he went to an address in Bogue Chitto to talk about his children. At some point neighbors called police, and that's when the deputy arrived.
"My pain wasn't designed for him. He was just there," Godbolt told the paper as he sat on the road, hands cuffed behind his back, waiting to be transported to jail. "We was talking about me trying to take the children home... somebody called the officer.... that's what they do, they intervene. It cost him his life. 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."
Authorities said the deputy who was shot was 36-year-old William Durr, Mississippi News Now reported. Durr had been with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department for two years. He also served four years with the Brookhaven Police Department.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said the shootings occurred at three separate homes Saturday night in rural Lincoln County--two in Brookhaven and the third in Bogue Chitto. The area is about 68 miles south of Jackson, the capital.
Strain said investigators were gathering evidence at all three locations.
Authorities say Godbolt held a 16-year-old boy hostage at one point. The teen was freed was unharmed.
The Daily Leader reported that Godbolt has a long criminal record, including:
■ Charged with armed robbery and aggravated assault in 2005 after he allegedly struck a man with a pistol and took his cash and jewelry;
■ In 2013, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office charged him with simple assault;
■ Arrested in 2015 for disorderly conduct/breach of peace and failure to comply with a request from a sheriff;
■ Arrested in 2015 for speeding, driving with a suspended license, and no proof of liability insurance by the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
In 2016, Godbolt filed an appeal to a judgment against him in a simple assault and disorderly conduct case.
Gov. Phil Bryant issued a statement asking state residents to pray for the victims. He also noted the "sacrifice" made by law enforcement officers to protect and serve their communities.
"Every day, the men and women who wear the badge make some measure of sacrifice to protect and serve their communities. Too often, we lose one of our finest. I thank the law enforcement agencies involved for their hard work," Bryant said in a statement.
