Mississippi sheriff says an intruder killed 81-year-old Bobby McGill with his own pistol in a 4 a.m. home invasion, then shot himself.

The sheriff called it burglary, then raised a harder question himself: a video from the night before appears to show the man yelling what sounds like 'God is dead' about a mile and a half away, and the McGills had a cross and a 'Jesus is Lord' sign in their yard. He was careful to say he does not know whether that mattered. With the suspect dead, there will be no trial to answer it, and the autopsy and the investigation are all that is left.

An 81-year-old Union County, Miss., man was fatally shot with his own gun while fighting an intruder inside his home, and his wife managed to escape, Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said, according to Fox News. Edwards told Fox News Digital that Eric Basco broke into Bobby McGill's home around 4 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, while McGill and his wife were asleep. WTVA reported the home is on County Road 176.

"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, according to Fox News. "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, escaped and called 911 to report that someone "came into their house and attacked her husband," the sheriff said.

Edwards said the likely motive was burglary and that Basco went into a bathroom and shot himself, Fox News and WTVA reported. Union County Coroner Pam Boman confirmed that Basco died over the weekend at the hospital in Tupelo and that his body will undergo an autopsy, according to WTVA.

The sheriff also described a video investigators obtained from the evening before the shooting that appears to show Basco walking down a road about 1.5 miles from the McGill home, throwing his hands in the air and screaming what sounds like "God is dead," Fox News reported. "We're not 100% sure of that," Edwards said. He noted that McGill had a cross and a sign reading "Jesus is Lord" in his yard. "So did that help lure him to that house? I don't know. I'm not saying it did," he said, according to Fox News. "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."

Edwards said Basco had no criminal history other than minor traffic violations and that there was "something mentally wrong with him or something that altered his thinking," Fox News reported. The sheriff called the McGills "very good citizens" and said, "It was a very sad, tragic thing, just for no reason." Basco was never charged before his death, and the account of what happened inside the home comes from the sheriff's investigation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.