Richard Dale Crum: 5 quick facts you need to know

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Richard DaleCrum.

Richard Dale Crum is the suspect charged in connection with a series of shootings at various locations in Arkabutla, Mississippi on February 17, 2023. according to the Tate County Sheriff.

“Richard Dale Crum, 52, of Arkabulta was arrested this afternoon and charged with first-degree murder in connection with this case. Additional charges for each of the other victims will be filed in the coming days. Crum is being held without bail at the Tate County Jail,” the Tate County Sheriff said in a press statement posted on the department’s Facebook page.

Arkabutla is a small town of about 285 people in rural Mississippi near Memphis, Tennessee.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Richard Crum shot 6 people in 3 different locations in Arkabutla, says the Sheriff

The sheriff’s statement said that on February 17, 2023, “there was a series of shootings at three different locations in Arkabutla, resulting in the deaths of six people.”

The statement adds: “We are at a very early stage of the investigation, so we can only release a limited amount of information. We want the community to know the suspect is in custody.”

A woman wrote in a comment thread about the shootings, that Crum is her uncle’s stepson. “We’re still not sure why he went on a killing spree. I am praying for the other families involved,” she wrote of the allegations.

2. Richard Dale Crum accused of shooting a man in a store before shooting people in two different houses

Sheriff Brad Lance told WREG that authorities believe Crum “went into a store and shot a man, then went to a house nearby on Bend Road and shot a woman”.

Lance told the TV station that Crum “also went to a house on Arkabutla Dam Road and shot two people there.”

He was arrested after a chase ended in the driveway of a house where two other people were found dead, one in a vehicle and the other on the pavement, the sheriff told WREG.

A man who says he knows a person in Arkabutla was referring to Crum on Facebook nicknamed “Bubba” and shared a surveillance photo. The Tate Record reported that she had received a surveillance photo of the suspect, possibly from the Arkabutla Dam Store, and was working to verify it.

3. A witness says a man was shot dead in a truck at a supermarket and he saw a “guy coming here with a shotgun.”

VINE linkBook Richard Crum.

Ethan Cash, a man who witnessed a shooting at a supermarket on Arkabutla Road, told WREG: “I heard the shot inside my house. I just woke up and I look back over here and I see a guy coming over here with a shotgun.”

“I go to a truck that a guy was shot at and I check his pulse and make sure he’s alright – by that point he’s already gone,” Cash told the TV network. “I had a moment where I could have saved someone’s life and I missed it man.”

According to VINE LinkCrum was committed to the Tate County Jail in Senatobia, Mississippi at 3:28 p.m. on February 17, 2023.

4. One woman described Arkabutla as a “place where everyone knows everyone”

April Wade of Arkabutla described the community to ABC 24 as a place where everyone knows everyone, “but if you don’t, you know someone who knows someone.”

“I think it’s crazy,” Wade told the TV network. “You don’t expect something like this to happen so close to home.”

5. The motive is not yet clear

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves wrote on Twitter that he had “been briefed on the Tate County shootings.”

According to Tate, the “person responsible was taken into custody alive. At this point we believe he acted alone. His motive is not yet known.”

Tate pledged that “law enforcement will have all the resources of the state at their disposal.”

CONTINUE READING: Video shows the chaos after the Michigan State University shooting.