Six dead in small town Mississippi shooting after mentally ill man shoots ex-wife, stepfather and others

The small town of Arkabutla, Mississippi -- population 285 -- lost six of its own Friday when a disgruntled gunman known to be mentally ill killed his ex-wife, stepfather, and four others during a shooting spree that began at a convenience store in the rural town.

Richard Dale Crum, 52, was armed with a shotgun and two handguns when he shot a man in a pickup truck parked outside the convenience store.

When police responded to that crime scene, he was already at his ex-wife's house, where he shot her dead and wounded her current husband.

Crum was arrested outside his own home, but not before he killed his stepfather, the stepfather's sister, and two handymen at a neighboring residence.

“Everybody has crime, and from time to time we have violent crime, but certainly nothing of this magnitude,” Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance said in an interview. “Without being able to say what triggered this, that’s the scary part.”

I'm guessing it was the mental illness, it usually is.