ARKABUTLA, Miss. — The husband of one of the victims gunned down in Friday’s mass shooting in Mississippi says his life will never be the same.
There is still no motive given for a mass shooting that gunned down six people Friday in Arkabutla. Richard Dale Crum, 52, is being held for the murders.
One of the dead is Crum’s ex-wife, Debra Sue Crum, who had remarried George Drane.
“I really loved her, and I miss her,” said an emotionally and physically broken Drane on Monday.
Drane vividly recalled Friday, when Crum showed up with a gun at the couple’s mobile home.
“I got up out of the chair to come to the door and I hollered, ‘Who is it?’ and about that time the door busted open and knocked me down,” Drane said.
Drane says it had been 13 years since he’d last seen Crum who, he says, wasted no time going after Debra Sue.
“He shot her once,” Drane said. “He used a ‘long gun,’ single shot, but it just barely clipped her.”
Drane says he struggled with Crum, who went outside to reload his gun and then came back, again beating Drane with the stock of his gun.
“I was pretty much out of it,” Drane recalled. “I was aware of what was going on, I could hear, but I couldn’t hardly move. And he just walked straight over and shot her again. Killed her.”
Drane suffered severe injuries from Crum’s attack. His scalp was split open and his left earlobe almost cut in two.
While he’s attended two grief counseling sessions at the Arkabutla Community Center, no therapy can erase memories of his wife.
“I’ll be sitting in my recliner and sometimes I think I see a glimpse of her still,” he said.
Drane said his wife had suffered a stroke and was undergoing therapy. She would have turned 61 in March, and she did not have life insurance.
Monday, the Tate County Sheriff said Crum was being charged with Capital Murder for Debra Sue Crum’s death. That is in addition to one count of first-degree murder for the death of Chris Eugene Boyce.
The Tate County Coroner identified the following victims: Chris Boyce (59) from Lakeland, Florida, Debra Crum (60), George McCain (73), Lynda McCain (78), Charles Manuel (76), John Rorie (56). All other victims were from Coldwater, MS.
Crum is being held without bond in the Tate County Jail. Crum’s initial appearance was held Monday at the Tate County Jail. The judge ordered Crum held without bond and set Crum’s preliminary hearing for 9 a.m. Thursday at the Tate County Justice Court.
There is a candlelight vigil tentatively scheduled for Thursday night in Arkabutla starting between 6 and 6:30.
