Delta State University shooter Shannon Lamb 'dead after police car chase'

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Delta State University teacher told police 'he wasn't going to jail' before shooting himself dead while on the run after 'love triangle' murders of his church minister girlfriend and his married colleague
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Suspect shooter Shannon Lamb, 45, 'shot himself dead' at 11pm local time
He was wanted for killing his girlfriend and then his Delta State colleague
According to police, he shot dead Amy Prentiss at their home at 6am
He then 'shot dead assistant history professor Ethan Schmidt' on campus
Police launched a manhunt at around 11am local time, said he was armed
Girlfriend Amy Prentiss, 41, 'lived with Lamb' in Gautier, 300 miles away
She was reportedly an outreach minister at the nearby Oasis Church
University has confirmed it will be closed on Tuesday due to the attack

Published: 11:39 EST, 14 September 2015 | Updated: 04:31 EST, 15 September 2015

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The Delta State University teacher who fled police after killing his girlfriend and a colleague told officers he 'wasn't going to jail' before shooting himself dead.

Shannon Lamb, 45, was on the run for 12 hours as a suspect in the killings yesterday before police finally closed in on him.

But once cornered, the 'geography of crime' instructor ran from his vehicle and into the woods. Police heard a single gunshot before discovering his body.

Dante Elben, Gautier Police Chief, told reporters that Lamb had spoken with officers at some point on Monday and told them 'he wasn't going to jail', CNN reported.

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'Murder-suicide': Shannon Lamb, 45, (left) has allegedly killed himself at the end of a 12-hour manhunt across Mississippi. He was wanted for the shooting of history professor Ethan Schmidt, 39, (right) at Delta State

Victim: Amy Prentiss, 41, was shot dead at a home in Gautier, Miss., on Monday. Police believe she was killed by her boyfriend, geography instructor Shannon Lamb, who then opened fire at Delta State University

Prentiss, an outreach minister, and Lamb (pictured together in an undated photo) moved to Gautier in June

Deadly shooting: Married father-of-three Schmidt was reportedly gunned down inside his office on campus

According to information released by the school, the shooting took place near Jobe Hall

First aid: The fatally shot victim was seen being taken away by ambulance

Lamb, 45, had been at large since Monday morning when he reportedly opened fire at his place of work, killing assistant history professor Ethan Schmidt, 39, with two gun shots to the head.

It came just hours after police claim he gunned down church outreach minister Amy Prentiss, 41, at their home in Gautier, Mississippi.

Shortly after midnight (Eastern Time) police spotted Lamb in traffic and chased him down, according to WREG Memphis.

According to police, Lamb killed Prentiss at around 6am then drove 300 miles to his place of work.

He called 911 at 10.20am to alert them to Prentiss' death, then opened fire on the campus at 10.45am local time, killing 39-year-old married father-of-three Schmidt, police said.

The murder weapon was not recovered, though officers found two shell casings by Schmidt's body. As police launched a state-wide manhunt, they said Lamb was believed to be armed and driving a Dodge Avenger registered to Prentiss.

Lamb had been teaching at Delta since 2009 and last year earned his PhD. His profile on DSU's website states that one of his areas of expertise was 'geography of crime.'

According to police, Lamb called 911 at 10.20am to report the death of a woman in Gautier, where has reportedly lived with Prentiss since June. Twenty minutes later, Delta State reported an active shooter on campus.

Gautier Police Detective Matthew Hoggatt said the suspect left Gautier in a green SUV, and the same vehicle was later found at Delta State.

A tweet sent out by the school at around 10.45am alerted the DSU community to 'an active shooter' who has been spotted on campus near Jobe Hall.

Part-time rocker: Lamb, a native of Munich, Germany, is a father of two who plays in a rock-n-roll band in his free time (pictured)

Students and staff were ordered to shelter in place and stay away from windows.

Cleveland Police later confirmed the active shooter sighting and Delta State officials tweeted that there was one fatality.

Fox News reported late Monday afternoon that investigators believe a love triangle may be behind the two killings.

The news site claimed citing unnamed sources that Lamb may have been under the impression that his lover was also in a relationship with Schmidt, who was married.

According to his Facebook page, Shannon Lamb was a native of Munich, Germany. In a post from April 2013 first cited by Heavy.com, the 45-year-old described himself as a single parent to a boy and girl who 'both are straight "A" students.'

Before joining the faculty of Delta State, Lamb had taught geography at Mississippi Valley State University and Itawamba Community college. In his free time, the father of two plays in a rock-n-roll band.

In a July 14, 2014, Facebook post dedicated to the completion of his doctorate, Lamb wrote that he had 'tried to maintain a relationship with the best girl in the whole wide world. (Amy Prentiss).'

Neighbors in Gautier told the SunHerald that the couple had been living on Santa Cruz Street where the slaying took place this morning since at least June.

A local resident said they had a hound named Lightning; both Lamb and Prentiss' Facebook pages feature photos of a tan-and-black hound by that name.

The pair had been dating since at least February 2014, based on selfies shared on Lamb's social media account.

In each photo caption, the geography teacher referred to his girlfriend as 'My Sweet Baby Angel.'

Both Lamb and Ethan Schmidt worked in Delta State University’s social sciences department, and in the ‘Acknowledgements’ section of his first book released last year, the historian listed his colleague as one of the 'wonderful people' he is 'so lucky to have... to share my academic life with.

Scholar: The American history professor earned his PhD from the University of Kansas in 2007

Award-winning teacher: During his time at Texas Tech University, Schmidt received the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2011

Researcher: Schmidt's area of expertise was colonial America and the interactions between indigenous people and European colonists

Husband and father: Schmidt is survived by his wife of 17 years (left) and their three children

According to Schmidt's biography on Delta State's website, the American history professor earned his PhD from the University of Kansas in 2007.

Before coming to Delta State in 2013, Schmidt had taught for six years at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where he received the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2011.

Schmidt's area of expertise was colonial America and the interactions between indigenous people and European colonists.

This past April, Schmidt published his second book on the subject titled The Divided Dominion: Social Conflict and Indian Hatred in Early Virginia.

Don Allan Mitchell, an English professor at the school, called Schmidt 'a gentleman in every sense of the word.'

'Dr. Ethan Schmidt was a terrific family man, a good friend, a true son of Peabody, Kansas, and his beloved Emporia State University,' he said

Lamb (pictured left and right) had been teaching at Delta State University since 2009

Plans to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the campus set for Tuesday have been put on hold.

Students and faculty who have been cleared from academic buildings were relocated to Sillers Coliseum.

Students were asked to stay in their dorms until they could be escorted out.

Officers from the Mississippi Highway Patrol, Cleveland Police, and the Bolivar County Sheriff's Department spent most of the day on campus looking for the suspect.

Freshman Noah Joyner, 18, said he was shaken by the lockdown. Joyner hunkered down in a bathroom of his dorm building and heard others desperate to get in when reports of the active shooter spread.

'There were like people banging on the doors to have somebody let them in,' said Joyner, a swimmer at the college. 'It was pretty terrifying to hear people banging on the door.'

The Cleveland School District also placed all local schools on lockdown as the active shooter situation unfolded.

Delta State is a four-year public university that has a student body of more than 4,000 people.

'Fortunately for us, our public safety officers and university officials have trained many of us for active shooter situations,' Mitchell wrote in a Facebook message to The Associated Press. 'Many students are locked-down in classrooms, and professors and staff members are telling them the protocol. Plus, we are all texting and Facebooking each other to make sure we are safe.'