The Mississippi college instructor who is accused of killing the woman he lived with and then a colleague before taking his own life reported the first crime to authorities and left an apology note behind in his home, police said Tuesday.
“I shot my wife,” Shannon Lamb tells a dispatcher over the phone shortly before 10 a.m. on Monday, according to a 911 recording and statement released by the Gautier Police Department.
“Just go and take care of her,” Lamb says. He also says there’s a “sweet dog” in the house that won’t “bother anybody, but I’m sure it’s upset.”
Lamb refuses to identify himself, but identifies the victim as Amy Prentiss, whose body was found in the home the two shared. Officials have not confirmed that the two were married.
An apology note was also found in the house.
“I am so very sorry. I wish I could take it back. I loved Amy and she is the only person who ever loved me,” said the note, which was signed by Lamb.
Gautier Police said they still have not determined what led Lamb, 45, to kill Prentiss, 41.
The Delta State University instructor was also the sole suspect in the killing of Delta history professor Dr. Ethan Schmidt, who was shot dead in his office Monday morning. Gautier is about 300 miles away from Delta State.
The 4,000-student Cleveland, Mississippi, college was on lockdown for most of Monday as authorities from local and state agencies searched for Lamb. Police in Cleveland have not said what the motive might have been for that killing either.
Officers who finally tracked Lamb down after a license-plate reader picked up his vehicle, and they saw him pull the car over and run into a wooded area. They then heard a single gunshot and discovered Lamb’s body.
A vigil for Schmidt, who has been called an "all-around good guy," was scheduled for 7 p.m. ( 8 p.m. ET) at Delta State on Tuesday night.
