“The man who opened fire has the gumption to point fingers at everyone but himself. “
While Memorial Day weekend revelers were commemorating the freedoms we enjoy, thanks to US Armed Forces heroes, a law enforcement hero succumbed to gunfire at the hands of a crazed killer who claimed the deputy “got in the way.” Besides the lawman, Willie Corey Godbolt, 35, murdered seven others involving three crime scenes in both Brookhaven and Bogue Chitto, Mississippi on Saturday night, bloodying streets on Memorial Day weekend.
Although as of yet unclear of any were related to Godbolt, two of the eight murders were young boys.
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputy Sheriff William Durr, 36, was slain at the scene. Upon his arrest, Godbolt stated he intended to die via “suicide by cop” scenario. He is not getting that wish; he was placed in custody by law enforcement officers who surrounded Godbolt the morning after he unhinged and fired a fusillade of bullets. Godbolt claimed he “ran out of bullets” during his killing spree on the streets where his wife, children and in-laws reside. According to Therese Apel, Clarion-Ledger reporter on scene for the arrest, Godbolt’s rage stemmed from a child custody impasse involving the mother of his kids.
Via video recorded by Apel moments after police arrested Godbolt, he said, “My intentions was to have God kill me. I ran out of bullets. Suicide by cop was my intention. I ain’t fit to live. Not after what I done.” Too bad he had not considered those words before inflicting violence on eight innocent lives, and irrevocably scarring the very streets upon which his kin call home.
“I ask all Mississippians to join Deborah and me in praying for those lost in Lincoln County. Every day, the men and women who wear the badge make some measure of sacrifice to protect and serve their communities,” Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant wrote on his Facebook page. “Too often, we lose one of our finest. I thank the law enforcement agencies involved for their hard work. May the peace of the Almighty wash over those hurting after this senseless tragedy.”
Deputy Sheriff Durr served the citizens of Lincoln County for two years, policing rural Brookhaven which one Facebook user described as the closest thing to “peaceful Mayberry.” Somberly, Godbolt’s selfishness, mayhem, din, and life-ending rampage permanently tarnished the notion of tranquility in that southwest corner of Mississippi.
Whereas many law enforcement investigators assess shooting scenes and surmise “suicide by cop” was part and parcel, this incident telegraphed that exact message straight from the horse’s mouth. Godbolt admitted suicide by cop was part of his horrific plan. Whether it was actually preconceived or not only God and Godbolt know.
As this latest massacre scene is processed by law enforcement forensics experts, the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) chronicled this latest police line-of-duty killing. There is irony in that factor, as much as there is sadness among the law enforcers who serve to maintain law, order and liberty on Memorial Day (and every day) while they memorialize one of their own.
As one may suspect, “suicide by cop” scenarios is one which cops encounter blindly. Going in to any situation while compellingly sizing-up a bad guy’s intent (often unspoken), is nerve-rending and permanent with regard to the ultimate outcome. Use of force nowadays is so scrutinized and brow-beat by Monday-morning-quarterbacking that some police officers may encounter hesitation. Nevertheless, perfectly and legally within their rights to defend themselves against a gun-toting or knife-wielding individual, law enforcers are not accorded adequate time to analyze suicide by cop and the inherent quandary therein remains: Talk this person down before he shoots me or do I end the absolute threat regardless?
It is no secret that officer-involved shootings (OIS) potentially leave law enforcers scarred, especially when they feel they are being used as tools, as is the basis in every suicide by cop incident.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) site spells out suicide by cop (SBC) as follows: “There are many known SBC-specific risk factors, warning signs, and triggers.[1] Individuals who feel trapped, ashamed, hopeless, desperate, revengeful, or enraged and those who are seeking notoriety, assuring lethality, saving face, sending a message, or evading moral responsibility often attempt SBC.[2]”
Despite Godbolt’s emotional sway, selfishness is an invalid reason to engender and place anyone else in peril. Performing his sworn duty, Deputy Durr moved forward to abate horror in the making while Godbolt stood as a horrific bullet-spewing machine.
Subsequent to the multi-murder toll, Godbolt was apprehended and suffered a reported gunshot wound. In handcuffs and seated in the blood-spooled asphalt, Godbolt’s seeming ease, candor and admissions are astonishing. Coward spilled from his mouth when he uttered to reporters on scene: “I was having a conversation with her step-daddy and her mama and her, my wife, about me taking my children home. Somebody called the officer, people that didn’t even live in the house. That’s what they do. They intervene.” Referring to Deputy Durr, Godbolt continued, “They cost him his life.”
The man who opened fire has the gumption to point fingers at everyone but himself. The only thing that got in the way was failed rationale, logic, and basic respect for life. To suggest Deputy Durr “got in the way” punctuates the lunatic mindset of a man with no self-respect…and a lawman who confronted evil.
Godbolt’s on-scene testimony contained these hollow words: “I’m sorry.” I’m sorry for his children who now carry the cross foisted upon their backs at their daddy hands.
It would have been educational and compelling to know what Deputy William Durr experienced and how he felt during this SBC encounter in Mississippi…but we’ll never know that thanks to a man named Godbolt. He uttered “I am not fit to live” after deciding Deputy Durr’s life was expendable. There is no warm and fuzzy Mayberry Americana in any of this stark reality.
