In 911 call, prof confesses shooting girlfriend at home

Associated Press

GAUTIER, Miss.

In a 911 call, his voice only slightly shaky, college professor Shannon Lamb told police he had shot his girlfriend and officers needed to get over to their house. Lamb made a point to say his “sweet dog” was there alive and probably upset, and said the dead woman’s family contacts could be found on her phone.

Inside the home, officers found Amy Prentiss’ body and a hand-written note scribbled on white legal pad: “I am so very sorry I wish I could take it back I loved Amy and she is the only woman who ever loved me,” read the letter authorities say was signed by Lamb.

There was no indication that Lamb, who was teaching two online classes for Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., already had traveled 300 miles to the school’s campus, where police believe he shot and killed a well-liked history professor, Ethan Schmidt, in the doorway to his office. Delta State University police chief Lynn Buford said university officials heard about the shooting at 10:18 a.m. Monday. He said Lamb made the fateful 911 call sometime after that.

By the end of the day, there would be one more death: Lamb took his own life as police closed in on him.

A day after the school shooting forced students and faculty to hide behind locked doors, authorities were still trying to piece together what motivated Lamb. The details released by investigators at both ends of the state as well as students and staff who knew him helped paint a picture of a talented but possibly troubled teacher.

Students said they looked forward to his class. Police in Gautier, where Prentiss died, said he had no history of violence or criminal record. Schmidt himself had included Lamb in a book he wrote where he acknowledged the “wonderful people” he shared his academic life with. Both taught in Division of Social Sciences and History, which lists 17 faculty members, and many students took courses from both.

At the same time, there were some inclinations of problems. A student who praised Lamb, Brandon Beavers, said he also seemed agitated and jittery, “like there was something wrong with him.” Another student, Mikel Sykes, said Lamb told him he was dealing with stress at the end of the 2014-15 academic year.

Lamb had earlier asked Delta State University for a medical leave of absence, saying he had a health issue of some sort. This year, he was only teaching two online classes. Recent changes in the university’s hiring policies meant that the doctorate Lamb had worked so hard to earn would not guarantee him an automatic tenure track to become an assistant professor.