Mississippi Man Murders 8, Wanted God to Kill Him: 'Suicide by Cop'
After murdering eight people over the weekend, a Mississippi man said his intention was to have God kill him but he ran out of bullets.
In three separate shootings in rural Mississippi Saturday night and Sunday, Willie Cory Godbolt, 36, shot and killed a total of eight people, a rampage that ended the lives of two boys, five adults, and a deputy sheriff.
As reported by the Daily Mail, around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Godbolt began his house-to-house shooting spree in Bogue Chitto, a small unincorporated town of approximately 500 people, killing three women and Deputy William Durr, a two-year veteran of the county sheriff's department.
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Durr responded to the house in a domestic disturbance call where Godbolt and his estranged wife were talking about their children in the home of his stepfather-in-law, Vincent Mitchell.
Mitchell managed to escape with Godbolt's wife, but Mitchell's wife, one of her daughters, and his sister-in-law were all killed.
"I'm devastated. It don't seem like it's real," Mitchell told The Associated Press.
The next two shootings occurred in nearby Brookhaven, where Godbolt killed two boys in the first home he terrorized, and a man and a woman in the next. Their names have not yet been released. Godbolt was apprehended just before 7 a.m. Sunday at Super Jack's, a truck stop in Brookhaven.
"My intention was to have God kill me. I ran out of bullets," he said, confessing the murders to the Clarion-Ledger. "Suicide by cop was my intention."
A Clarion-Ledger reporter asked Godbolt what is next for him, to which he replied: "Death. ... I ain't fit to live. Not after what I've done."
"But God, you know, he forgives you for everything," he added.
The crime spree is, in the memory of many involved, the largest in the county's history.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant released a statement in response to the shootings, writing on his Facebook page: "I ask all Mississippians to join Deborah and me in praying for those lost in Lincoln County."
"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. May the peace of the Almighty wash over those hurting after this senseless tragedy."
Durr, the deputy sheriff who was killed, was known for making children laugh and served as a youth minister for several churches.
Lincoln County is home to approximately 34,000 people. Brookhaven is the county seat and has a population of around 14,000 people.
