Slain deputy known as man of faith

Officers arrest suspect Willie Corey Godbolt on Sunday, May 28, 2017, following several fatal shootings Saturday in Lincoln County, Miss., officials said. (Therese Apel/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
Officers arrest suspect Willie Corey Godbolt on Sunday, May 28, 2017, following several fatal shootings Saturday in Lincoln County, Miss., officials said. (Therese Apel/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. -- A Mississippi deputy killed in a shooting rampage had worked in Christian ministry before going into law enforcement and liked doing puppet shows to deliver uplifting messages to children.

William Durr, 36, was responding to a domestic-violence call late Saturday when he was fatally shot in Bogue Chitto, a south Mississippi city surrounded by pine trees and rolling green pastures. He was one of eight people killed in a shooting rampage at three different homes -- an outbreak of violence that has shaken the county of 34,500 residents.

Investigators said Willie Corey Godbolt, 35, will be charged with one count of capital murder and seven counts of first degree murder. Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said the charges could change as the investigation continues.

Authorities said Monday that Godbolt was related to or acquainted with all the victims except Durr.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation identified some of those killed as Barbara Mitchell, 55; Brenda May, 53; Tocarra May, 35; Ferral Burage, 45; and Shelia Burage, 46. The parents of Austin Edwards, 11, and Jordan Blackwell, 18, identified their sons as the other people killed.

On Monday, Blackwell was said to have shielded Edwards' older brother from bullets, saving his life.

"I thought I was going to die," said Caleb Edwards, Blackwell's 15-year-old cousin, describing the gunman entering the home he was in.

Godbolt remained hospitalized in good condition for a gunshot wound Monday in Jackson, and could make a court appearance today in Brookhaven. It wasn't clear who shot him.

The Lincoln County sheriff's office has about 75 employees and is like a close-knit family, said Zach Harveston, who has worked as a dispatcher there for two years. Harveston said he was shaken by Durr's death.

"He loved to lead children to the good Lord," Harveston said. "He was just a natural-born servant of the good Lord here at the department and even in the church he served in."

Durr was married and had an 11-year-old son. His mother said Monday that the family is still in distress.

"He was a good Christian man," Debbie Durr said at her rural home near Brookhaven, which is about 70 miles south of Jackson. "He was a youth minister and a pastor before going into law enforcement."

On Sunday, Vincent Mitchell sat outside his little, yellow home and tried to make sense of how a family dispute led to a rampage that killed eight people, including the deputy who tried to keep them safe.

"I'm devastated. It don't seem like it's real," Mitchell said shortly after the arrest of Godbolt, his stepson-in-law. "Him and my stepdaughter, they've been going back and forth for a couple of years with that domestic violence."

Godbolt showed up at Mitchell's home in Bogue Chitto shortly before midnight Saturday to demand that his estranged wife give up their two children. She and the kids had been staying with them for about three weeks, Mitchell said.

"He'd come to get his kids. The deputy was called," and asked him to leave, and it seemed like Godbolt would comply at first, Mitchell said.

"He acted like, motioned like, he was fixing to go. Then he reached in his back pocket and grabbed a gun," Mitchell said. "He just started shooting everything."

Mitchell said he escaped along with Godbolt's wife, but Mitchell's wife, her sister and one of the wife's daughters were killed. Authorities said Godbolt fled and killed four more people at two other homes.

"My pain wasn't designed for [Durr]. He was just there," Godbolt said while sitting with his hands cuffed behind his back on the side of a road in Brookhaven. "I ain't fit to live, not after what I done."

At least seven hours elapsed between the first shootings and Godbolt's arrest near the final crime scene, in a subdivision of ranch houses.

Information for this article was contributed by Russ Bynum, Jeff Amy, Justin Pritchard and Kathleen Foody of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/30/2017

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