A man is in custody after a shooting rampage across three locations in a Mississippi county left six people dead – including a seven-year-old girl – in what local authorities called one of the worst cases they’ve seen.
Daricka Moore, 24, is charged with first-degree murder. The charges are expected to be upgraded to multiple counts of capital murder, Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said at a Saturday news conference.
Scott said the rampage began shortly before 7 p.m. Friday at a home on David Hill Road in Clay County. Moore allegedly shot and killed his father, Glenn Moore, 67; his uncle, Willie Guine, 55; and his brother, Quinten Moore, 33. Each man was shot in the head, the sheriff said.
Investigators believe Moore then stole his brother’s F-150 truck and drove to a second home, where he allegedly forced his way inside and attempted to sexually assault someone while armed with a handgun.
During the attack, Moore allegedly shot and killed a seven-year-old girl, who Sheriff Scott said was Moore’s second cousin. Her mother, Moore’s cousin, was also at the home with three children.
Moore then drove to a home on Siloam-Griffith Road, where investigators later found the truck hidden behind the house. Inside, authorities discovered the bodies of Barry Bradley and Samuel Bradley, both of whom appeared to have been shot in the head. One of the men was a pastor at an Apostolic church attended by some of Moore’s family members, Scott said. It is unclear why the two men were targeted.
Following a manhunt that same day, Moore was arrested at a checkpoint nearby, Scott said. District Attorney Scott Colom said prosecutors are preparing to upgrade the charges.
“I don’t know what kind of motive there could be to shoot a seven-year-old child,” Colom said.
“This guy has not been on our radar,” Scott added. “We don’t know what was going through his mind.”
Scott described the toll on the victims’ family as devastating.
“For this family to lose this many family members in one setting is just hard to imagine,” he said.
The sheriff said his office had no prior contact with Moore and no previous calls for service at the targeted homes.
“I spoke to the family last night, and they just never would’ve believed that he’d be capable of doing something like this,” Scott said.
Moore is being held without bail in the Clay County Jail in West Point.
