6 Killed in Shooting Spree in Mississippi; Suspect in Custody

A 7-year-old girl was the youngest of six killed in a shooting spree across multiple separate locations in rural Mississippi on Jan. 9, according to local authorities.

At a news conference on Jan. 10, Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said authorities had taken 24-year-old Daricka M. Moore into custody in connection with the shootings.

The sheriff said Moore is alleged to have shot three people at a location in Cedar Bluff on the western side of the county. Scott identified those three deceased individuals as the suspect’s father, 67-year-old Glenn Moore; his brother, 33-year-old Quinton Moore; and his uncle, 55-year-old Willie Ed Guines.

The suspect is then alleged to have stolen a Ford F-150 truck belonging to his brother and driven to a second location, where he attempted sexual battery while armed with a handgun. Scott said witnesses then described seeing the suspect shoot the 7-year-old girl in the head.

“I don’t know what kind of motive you could have to kill a 7-year-old,” Scott said.

While at the second location, Scott said the suspect is alleged to have held a gun to a second child’s head, but it’s unclear if he chose not to shoot or if the gun malfunctioned.

“We’re trying to determine whether the gun misfired or whether he did not shoot the child. That part, we don’t know,” Scott said.

The suspect is then alleged to have gone to a third location, a small church, and killed a pastor, Rev. Barry Bradley, and his brother, Samuel Bradley.

Members of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the National Park Service, U.S. Marshals Service, and other law enforcement agencies responded to multiple emergency calls over the course of the evening of Jan. 9, according to Scott. The sheriff said those combined law enforcement agencies set up a road block and that the suspect was taken into custody without further incident.

The initial shooting occurred at approximately 6:56 p.m. CT, and law enforcement apprehended the suspect at about 11:24 p.m. CT.

Scott cautioned that the information he had was preliminary and could change.

The suspect is being held at the Clay County Jail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 12. Scott said the suspect likely would face multiple murder charges, with at least one being upgraded to a capital offense.

At the Jan. 10 news briefing, Clay County District Attorney Scott Colom described the shooting spree of the prior night as the worst he’d seen in 10 years.

“As the sheriff said, these charges are going to be upgraded to capital murder. There’s going to probably be more than one count, to be honest with you,” he said.

Colom noted that some investigations could identify mitigating circumstances for the potential charges against the suspect, “but after all that’s said and done, if [the suspect is] eligible for the death penalty, the district attorney’s office is going to go for the death penalty.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.