An elderly Mississippi man was fatally shot with his own gun while fighting an alleged burglar inside his home, and his wife managed to escape, authorities said.
Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards told Fox News Digital that Eric Basco broke into Bobby McGill’s home around 4 a.m. Thursday while McGill and his wife were asleep.
McGill, 81, struggled with Basco, who got hold of McGill’s gun and fatally shot him multiple times, Edwards said.
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“It appears that there was a struggle that had ensued between the assailant and the homeowner. And he had a pistol that he kept in his chest there at the foot of his bed,” Edwards said. “It looks like to us that what we’re piecing together, is that he may have tried to get that pistol and the individual was fighting him, and they had a fight and the guy got the pistol and shot Mr. Bobby multiple times.”
McGill’s wife, Peggy, was able to escape the home safely and called 911 to report that someone “came into their house and attacked her husband,” Edwards said.
Edwards said Basco’s likely motive was burglary, adding that he went into a bathroom and shot himself. Basco has since died at a hospital.
However, Edwards said investigators obtained a video from the evening before the shooting that appears to show Basco walking down a road about 1.5 miles from McGill’s home, throwing his hands in the air and screaming what sounds like “God is dead.”
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“It sounds like on the video that we saw that he was saying, ‘God is dead.’ Now, like I said, we’re not 100% sure of that, but it sounds like that’s what he was sayin’,” Edwards said. “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 added.
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The Union County sheriff said Basco didn’t have a criminal history other than minor traffic violations and said there was “something mentally wrong with him or something that altered his thinking.”
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He said the couple were “very good citizens.”
McGill’s granddaughter paid tribute to him in a Facebook post, writing, “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 wrote. “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.”