After an elderly man was shot in Mississippi last week, Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said the motive may be linked to the victim’s Christianity, citing video evidence.
Edwards told Fox News on Tuesday that Eric Basco broke into Bobby McGill’s residence around 4 a.m. last week, while McGill and his wife Peggy were asleep.
McGill, 81, tried to fight back against Basco, who was able to grab McGill’s gun and shoot him multiple times before Peggy escaped.
She called the authorities and said someone “came into their house and attacked her husband,” Edwards said.
The sheriff outlined how there was a struggle and said McGill kept a gun “at the foot of his bed” in a chest.
The two men likely struggled for control of the firearm before McGill was shot dead. Basco shot himself in McGill’s bathroom and later died at a nearby hospital.
Edwards added that law enforcement is still “piecing together” what happened. He did, however, reference a video from the night before the shooting which seemingly shows Basco walking about a mile from McGill’s home while screaming “God is dead.”
“It sounds like on the video that we saw that he was saying, ‘God is dead.’ Now, like I said, we’re not 100 percent sure of that, but it sounds like that’s what he was sayin’,” he explained.
“And in Mr. Bobby’s yard was a cross and a sign that said, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ So did that help lure him to that house? I don’t know. I’m not saying it did. I’m not saying it had anything at all to do with it. But it’s a question that I have in my head if that played a part or not. I don’t know, we’ll probably never know.”
“It was a very sad, tragic thing, just for no reason,” Edwards stated.
The sheriff said Basco did not have a criminal record, aside from minor traffic violations, and speculated that there was “something mentally wrong with him or something that altered his thinking.”
He also hailed the McGills as “very good citizens.”
In McGill’s obituary, he is described as “a great soul” who “departed this life after an almost 82-year earthly pilgrimage.”
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“Bobby loved dearly his family and was a beloved community citizen and land owner in the Alpine Community of Union County, west of Guntown. He retired as a truck driver and was a faithful and loyal member of Keownville Baptist Church,” it read.
He was married to Peggy for 42 years and had five children, along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In addition, Fox News cited a Facebook post from McGill’s granddaughter which read, “My Papaw loved the Lord above all else & he loved his family with his whole heart.”
“What a great man. He led his life by example of what it looks like to walk with Jesus. He made sure you couldn’t leave a conversation with him without hearing about Jesus. His faith became sight this morning,” she proclaimed.
“How lucky are we to have the hope of eternity so we can see him again one day. This world & the people in it can be so evil. Please be in prayer for our family in the days to come,” his granddaughter concluded.
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