Minutes after being served divorce papers, Carl Robinson, a Democratic candidate for the Mississippi House of Representatives, shot his estranged wife at her workplace on Tuesday, officials have said.
Robinson walked into Williams Medical Clinic in Potts Camp where Latoya Thompson was working at the front desk as a receptionist and shot her before turning the gun on himself.
“We found the shooter dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head,” Marshall County Sheriff Kenny Dickerson told the Daily Journal. “He and his wife were in the process of a divorce. His wife was lying on the floor near his body.”
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Robinson, after shooting his wife, had jumped a counter at the clinic, which is in far north Mississippi about an hour southeast of Memphis, and fired another shot, Dickerson said.
34-year-old Thompson died before a helicopter could arrive to transport her to the hospital, the sheriff said.
Dr Kenneth Williams, who owns and runs the clinic, told FOX13 he arrived shortly after the shooting and tried to resuscitate Thompson.
“We did try to resuscitate her, and she was gone, but she did get her rhythm back,” Williams said. “We got her rhythm back and got her loaded up and taken to the field for the helicopter. While she was over there, her rhythm went out twice and she didn’t make it.”
Witnesses said they saw Robinson, 43, pacing around outside the clinic before entering the building to reportedly commit the act which police have called murder-suicide.
Dickerson said a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol was recovered at the scene, explaining that no one else was hurt.
Robinson and Thompson had lived in nearby Benton County. Thompson’s family told FOX13 that they are not really certain what happened between the couple before the shooting.
“She was a real nice girl, friendly and would help you do anything,” Joe Patterson, a neighbour, said of Thompson.
Before the double deadly shooting, Robinson was preparing for a Democratic primary on August 6 and was seeking the District 5 seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives.
The couple left behind a 3-year-old son. Court records cited by local media 3WREG showed that Thompson had amended the couple’s child custody agreement just days before she was shot and killed.
Thompson was also working on her masters to be a counsellor, her brother, Kevin Thompson said.
“The situation is raw. I’m mad, I’m sad, disappointed. All of that. We’re certain that we will bounce back stronger than ever, because that’s what she would have wanted.”
