Six people were killed yesterday, Friday, by gunfire in a small town in Mississippi, in the southern United States, the county sheriff’s office announced.

“Earlier today a series of shootings occurred in three different locations in Arkabatla, resulting in the deaths of six people,” the Tate County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page.

The suspect first opened fire in the parking lot of a store in Arkabatla, a community of just under 300 residents, killing a man behind the wheel of a car, according to the sheriff, who was cited by CNN.

He then went to a nearby home and killed his ex-wife, Sheriff Brad Lance said in a statement to the American network.

Sheriff’s Office officers also found two other dead bodies at a neighboring home and believe the victims were family members of the suspect.

The carnage was stopped when a police officer saw a car matching the description of the suspect’s and gave chase. The manhunt ended in a driveway where the suspect was arrested.

Near this house, the police found one person dead in a car and another on the street, bringing the death toll to six.

The sheriff’s office said the suspect has been identified as Richard Dale Crum, a 52-year-old man, who has been charged with murder.

“We believe he acted alone,” Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said in a tweet, clarifying that “the motive” of the attacker is not known. The governor also called on residents to “pray for the victims of this tragic act of violence and for their families.”

“Enough,” US President Joe Biden said in an overnight statement from the White House.

Biden pointed out that in a 48-hour period in 2023, “our nation has already suffered at least 73 incidents of gunmen opening fire on crowds of people.”

“Thoughts and prayers are not enough,” the US president emphasized, “gun violence is an epidemic and Congress must act now.”

Biden had reacted by saying “enough” also on Tuesday, after the three murders committed by a gunman on a university campus in Michigan.

Despite bold advances in gun-restriction legislation, Joe Biden has been demanding, to no avail, that Congress reinstate the nationwide ban on assault rifles that was in place in 1994 and 2004.

However, the Democratic president faces off against Republicans, who present themselves as defenders of the constitutional right to own guns and who have held a slim majority in the House of Representatives since January.