A lone gunman killed six people, including his ex-wife and stepfather, on Friday at multiple locations in a tiny rural community in northern Mississippi, the sheriff said.

The shootings all happened within the community of Arkabutla, the local television station NBC5 reported, citing the Tate county sheriff, Brad Lance.

Mr Lance identified the suspect in custody as Richard Dale Crum, according to the Associated Press.

The suspect was facing charges of first-degree murder, Mr Lance added.

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Armed with a shotgun and two handguns, the gunman opened fire at about 11am 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, according to the sheriff.

Deputies were working at 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 the suspect’s ex-wife, shot dead and her current husband wounded.

Mr Lance said deputies had caught up with Mr Crum outside his own home and arrested him. Behind the residence they found two handymen killed by gunfire – one in the road, another in an SUV. Inside a neighbouring home, they had discovered the bodies of the suspect’s stepfather and his stepfather’s sister.

Mr Crum was jailed without bond on a single charge of capital murder, and the sheriff said investigators were working to bring additional charges. It was not immediately known if the suspect 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. He had a Florida driver’s license in his wallet, the sheriff said. Mr Boyce’s brother was in the truck with him and fled when the suspect attacked, he escaped unharmed.

“Everybody has crime, and from time to time we have violent crime, but certainly nothing of this magnitude,” Mr Lance said in an interview. He added: “Without being able to say what triggered this, that’s the scary part.”

A resident identified as April Wade told the Associated Press that most people in Arkabutla knew each other. “But if you don’t”, she added, “you know somebody who knows somebody.”

If Friday’s killings in Arkabutla are designated as a mass shooting, the number of these incidents in the US in 2023 as of Friday – the 48th day of the year – will increase to least 73, according to statistics curated by the Gun Violence Archive.

The archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four people are wounded or killed, not counting any attackers. – Guardian