A shooting spree in the southern US state of Mississippi on Friday resulted in the deaths of six people. US President Joe Biden responded to the incident by once again calling for tighter gun restrictions.
Police reported that the shooter first killed a person at a store in Arkabutla, a small town in Mississippi, before heading to a nearby house and killing a woman who has since been identified as his ex-wife.
He then moved to another location, where two more men were killed. Finally, a man and a woman were found dead in a neighbouring house, possibly related to the suspect. The suspect was apprehended as he attempted to flee the scene.
The alleged shooter has been identified as 52-year-old Richard Dale Crum, who is currently in custody and charged with first-degree murder.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves stated that the shooter acted alone, but his motive is not yet known. The case is being handled by the Tate County Sheriff’s Office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
This latest incident occurred only a few days after a man attacked a university campus in Michigan, killing three people. President Biden expressed his exasperation and frustration, reiterating his call for Congress to take action on gun control.
He noted that there have been at least 73 mass shootings in the US in the first 48 days of the year, and argued that gun violence is an epidemic that requires action.
Biden’s call for commonsense gun law reforms has been met with opposition from Republicans, who staunchly defend the constitutional right to bear arms.
They currently have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, making it difficult to pass any gun control legislation. Last month, two mass shootings occurred within a week, both involving the Asian American community, in California.
According to the Gun Violence Archive database, there were an estimated 44,000 gun-related deaths in the US last year, with about half of them being murder cases, accidents and self-defense, and the other half being suicides.
