Man kills 6, including ex-wife, in latest US gun violence

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Law enforcers investigate the scene of multiple shootings on Arkabutla Dam Road in Arkabutla, Mississippi on Feb. 17, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 18 February 2023
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Man kills 6, including ex-wife, in latest US gun violence

  • 52-year-old Richard Dale Crum was armed with a shotgun and two handguns, says sheriff
  • Deputies caught up with Crum outside his own home and arrested him after the shootings

ARKABUTLA, Mississippi: A lone gunman killed six people including his ex-wife and stepfather Friday at multiple locations in a tiny rural community in northern Mississippi, the sheriff said, leaving investigators searching for clues to what motivated the shocking rampage.
Armed with a shotgun and two handguns, 52-year-old Richard Dale Crum opened fire at about 11 a.m. and killed a man in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck parked outside a convenience store in Arkabutla, near the Tennessee state line, Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance said.
Deputies were working the crime scene when a second 911 call alerted authorities to another shooting a few miles away. After arriving at a home, they found a woman, whom the sheriff identified as Crum’s ex-wife, shot dead and her current husband wounded.
Lance said deputies caught up with Crum outside his own home and arrested him. Behind the residence they found two handymen slain by gunfire — one in the road, another in an SUV. Inside a neighboring home, they discovered the bodies of Crum’s stepfather and his stepfather’s sister.
“Everybody has crime, and from time to time we have violent crime, but certainly nothing of this magnitude,” Lance said in an interview. He added: “Without being able to say what triggered this, that’s the scary part.”




Mugshot of Richard Dale Crum, the suspect in a shooting that killed six people in Mississippi. (Tate County Sheriff's Office handout via AFP)

Crum, 52, was jailed without bond on a single charge of capital murder, and Lance said investigators were working to bring additional charges. It was not immediately known if Crum had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
That initial murder charge was for the killing of Chris Eugene Boyce, 59, the man who was shot outside the store. Boyce’s brother was in the truck with him at the time and fled, according to the sheriff. Lance added that Crum chased the brother through a wooded area before he escaped unharmed.
Deputy Tate County Coroner Ernie Lentz identified the others killed as Debra Crum, 60; Charles Manuel, 76; John Rorie, 59; George McCain, 78; and Lynda McCain, 78. Lentz also said Boyce was from Lakeland, Florida.
Ethan Cash, who lives near the store, told WREG-TV he heard a gunshot from inside his house.
“I had just woken up and I look back here, and I see dude walking back here with a shotgun,” he said.
Cash added that he went to the scene and found one person who had been shot. He checked for a pulse, but found none.
In the lobby of the Sheriff’s Office, Norma Washington told The Associated Press that Boyce was her nephew. She said he and the brother, Doug, who lives in Alaska, had been in town cleaning up a property they inherited from their deceased uncle.
“I lost my brother, and now this one,” Washington said. “This has been something else.”
It was unclear whether Crum knew either of the brothers.
The killings stunned residents of Arkabutla, home to 285 people and located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee. It’s the hometown of famed actor James Earl Jones, and nearby Arkabutla Lake is a popular fishing and recreational destination.
An elementary school and a high school in nearby Coldwater both went on lockdown while the suspect was being sought, according to the Coldwater Elementary School Facebook page. A short time later, a second post on the page said the lockdown had been lifted and “all students and staff are safe.”
April Wade, who lives in Arkabutla and grew up in Coldwater, said both are small communities where most people know each other, “but if you don’t, you know somebody who knows somebody.”
Speaking from a local tire store in the afternoon, Wade said she and her husband were aware of the shootings but had not yet heard the names of the suspect or victims.
“I think it’s crazy,” Wade said. “You do not expect something like that to happen so close to home.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said its agents were providing assistance to the sheriff’s department and state investigators. Lance said one of their top priorities was to determine a motive.
The sheriff, who has lived in the area his entire life and served in law enforcement for 25 years, said he could recall no prior problems with Crum.
The shootings are the first mass killing in the US since Jan. 23, which saw the last of six in a three-week period, according to an Associated Press/USA Today database. It defines a mass killing as four or more people dead, not including the perpetrator.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were mourning the six victims and praying for the survivors. He urged Congress to act now on gun law reforms to address what he called “an epidemic” of gun violence.
 


Myanmar junta offers cash rewards to anti-coup defectors

Updated 5 sec ago
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Myanmar junta offers cash rewards to anti-coup defectors

  • The Southeast Asian country has been consumed by civil war since a 2021 coup
  • Embattled junta faces an array of pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic armed rebels
YANGON: Myanmar’s junta said Friday it is offering cash rewards to fighters willing to desert armed groups defying its rule and “return to the legal fold” ahead of a slated election.
The Southeast Asian country has been consumed by civil war since a 2021 coup, with the embattled junta facing an array of pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic armed rebels.
After suffering major battlefield reverses, the military has touted elections around the end of the year as a pathway to peace – plans denounced as a sham by opposition groups and international monitors.
State media The Global New Light of Myanmar said Friday “individuals who returned to the legal fold with arms and ammunition are being offered specific cash rewards.”
The junta mouthpiece did not specify how much cash it is offering, but said 14 anti-coup fighters had surrendered since it issued a statement pledging to “welcome” defectors two weeks ago.
“These individuals chose to abandon the path of armed struggle due to their desire to live peacefully within the framework of the law,” the newspaper said.
The surrendered fighters included 12 men and two women, it added.
Nine were members of ethnic armed groups, while five were from the pro-democracy “People’s Defense Forces” – formed after the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government four years ago.
The junta’s offer of a gilded olive branch matches a tactic used by its opponents – who have previously tried to tempt military deserters with cash rewards.
The “National Unity Government,” a self-proclaimed administration in exile dominated by ousted lawmakers, has called the junta’s call for cooperation “a strategy filled with deception aimed at legitimizing their power-consolidating sham election.”

Lightning strikes kill 33 people in eastern India

Updated 5 min 58 sec ago
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Lightning strikes kill 33 people in eastern India

  • The deaths in Bihar occurred during fierce storms between Wednesday and Thursday, a state disaster management department statement said
  • The state government announced compensation of 4 million rupees ($4,600) to the families of those killed by lightning

PATNA, India: Lightning strikes during monsoon storms in eastern India this week killed at least 33 people and injured dozens, officials said Friday.

The deaths in Bihar occurred during fierce storms between Wednesday and Thursday, a state disaster management department statement said, with the victims mostly farmers and laborers working in the open.

More heavy rain and lightning are forecast for parts of the state.

Bihar state’s disaster management minister, Vijay Kumar Mandal, said that officials in vulnerable districts had been directed to “create awareness to take precautionary steps following an alert on lightning.”

The state government announced compensation of 4 million rupees ($4,600) to the families of those killed by lightning.

At least 243 died by lightning in 2024 and 275 the year earlier, according to the state government.

India’s eastern region, including Bihar, is prone to annual floods that kill dozens and displace hundreds of thousands of people during peak monsoon season.


Russia downs 73 Ukrainian drones, including three flying to Moscow

Updated 15 min 31 sec ago
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Russia downs 73 Ukrainian drones, including three flying to Moscow

  • Most of the drones were downed over Russia’s southwestern regions, including 31 over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine

Russian air defenses destroyed 73 Ukrainian drones overnight, including three heading for Moscow, Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday.

Most of the drones were downed over Russia’s southwestern regions, including 31 over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, writing on Telegram, made no mention of casualties or damage, but said emergency services were examining the area where drone fragments fell to the ground. The federal aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, briefly ordered the suspension of operations at two airports near the capital, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky, but services were later resumed.

Operations were halted well after midnight at a third Moscow airport, Vnukovo before being reinstated by the morning. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about the attacks. Kyiv says that its strikes inside Russia are necessary to destroy infrastructure key to Moscow’s efforts in its war against Ukraine, now in its fourth year.


‘Tears of bitterness’: funeral of Kenya hawker killed in rally

Updated 17 min 25 sec ago
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‘Tears of bitterness’: funeral of Kenya hawker killed in rally

  • Boniface Kariuki was shot at point-blank range by an officer in riot gear during a rally against police brutality
  • On that day, the 22-year-old mask vendor was not protesting

KANGEMA, Kenya: Before the white coffin containing Kenyan hawker Boniface Kariuki was carried into a vehicle for his final journey home, his mother screamed in grief – yet another parent to lose a child in deadly demonstrations roiling the east African nation.

On a recent Friday, hundreds of mourners streamed into a field near Kariuki’s home, roughly 100 kilometers from Nairobi, to witness his burial and vent their anger and grief.

The 22-year-old mask vendor was shot at point-blank range by an officer in riot gear during a rally against police brutality in June, and later died in a Nairobi hospital.

That day, Kariuki was not protesting.

The incident was captured on film and shared widely across social media, with mourners placing a still image of the moment just before he was shot on top of his coffin, which was also draped in a Kenyan flag.

His death has thrust the long-standing issue of police brutality in the country back into the spotlight and galvanized anger toward a government many Kenyans see as corrupt and unaccountable.

“Our grief cannot be understood. We shall miss you constantly,” his younger sister Gladys Wangare said.

“Your constant smile, genuine concern about our family. Life will never be the same again. Your place will remain empty,” she added.

As the coffin traveled to his hometown of Kangema, villagers gathered to see the entourage, with riot police eyeing the calm crowds from junctions.

Kariuki’s friend and fellow hawker Edwin Kagia, 24, described him as a hardworking, humble and “good guy” who was always cracking jokes.

“I used to hear that police kill people, but I could not imagine it would happen to my brother,” he said.

“We are in sorrow.”

Waves of protests have swept Kenya since June 2024, when proposed tax rises triggered widespread anger.

The increasingly violent rallies – often dominated by young men and paid thugs – have been met with a harsh police response, with rights groups saying at least 50 people have died in recent protests.

While President William Ruto has condemned the violence, promising those responsible would be held accountable, he has also backed the police – telling officers to shoot would-be looters “in the leg.”

At the funeral, Kariuki’s friend Kagia condemned the president’s remarks, urging him to apologize.

“The head of state uttering such statements de-filters the unity of the nation,” he said.

It came after the country’s top prosecutor said his office had “approved a murder charge against a police officer who allegedly murdered a mask vendor in Nairobi.”

Despite the arrest, people at the funeral remained skeptical and upset.

“Whoever did all this, let him actually not know any peace on this earth,” said Emily Wanjira, a spokesperson for the family.

“We are crying tears of bitterness.”


At least 4 dead and 1,300 evacuated after heavy rain in South Korea

Updated 18 July 2025
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At least 4 dead and 1,300 evacuated after heavy rain in South Korea

  • The Interior and Safety Ministry says a collapsed overpass retaining wall in Osan killed one person on Wednesday
  • Parts of South Chungcheong province have seen up to 420 millimeters of rain

SEOUL: Two days of heavy downpours in South Korea have killed at least four people and forced more than 1,300 others to evacuate, officials said Thursday.
One person was killed when their car was buried by soil and concrete after a retaining wall of an overpass collapsed in Osan, just south of Seoul, during heavy rain on Wednesday, the Interior and Safety Ministry said.
Three other people were separately found dead Thursday in a submerged car, a stream, and a flooded basement in southern regions. Ministry officials said they were still investigating whether those deaths were directly caused by heavy rain.
The heavy rain has forced the evacuation of 1,382 people from their homes, the ministry said in a statement, adding 46 flights have been canceled.
Parts of southern South Chungcheong province have received up to 420 millimeters (16.5 inches) of rain since Wednesday, according to the ministry.