Eight people dead and suspect in custody after domestic dispute turns deadly in Mississippi

A gunman on a rampage during a domestic dispute in rural Mississippi allegedly fatally shot eight people, including a sheriff's deputy, US news reports said on Sunday.

The shootings took place late Saturday in two small hamlets, Brookhaven and Bogue Chitto, both about 100 kilometres from the city of Jackson.

Although details were still murky, the gunman - Willie Cory Godbolt, 35 - told The Clarion-Ledger newspaper after his arrest on Sunday that he had gone to a home in Bogue Chitto to talk with his wife and her stepfather and mother about getting custody of his children.

After the conflict escalated, neighbours called police, and Godbolt shot the arriving deputy.

Three other females were also found dead.

“My pain wasn't designed for him. He was just there," Godbolt said of the officer.

“We was talking about me trying to take the children home," he told the newspaper while sitting on the ground at one of the shooting scenes, arms cuffed behind his back.

“Somebody called the officer," he added. "It cost him his life. I'm sorry.

“I ain’t fit to live, not after what I done.” 

The bodies of a man, woman and two young men were found at the other crime scenes, the newspaper reported.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant issued a statement Sunday calling the shootings a "tragedy" and hailing law enforcement officers who "sacrifice to protect and serve their communities."

With AFP.