CLEVELAND, Miss. — A professor was killed in his office at Delta State University in Mississippi, forcing terrified students and teachers to hunker down in classrooms as investigators searched for another school employee in connection with the killing, officials said Monday.
Investigators are searching for Shannon Lamb, who was initially identified as a person of interest and is now considered a suspect, Cleveland Police Chief Charles “Buster” Bingham said. Police do not yet know a motive in the slaying of Ethan Schmidt, a history professor at Delta State.
Bingham said Lamb is considered armed and dangerous but is not believed to be on campus anymore.
Lamb received a doctorate in education from Delta State University in the spring 2015, according to a copy of his résumé posted on the university’s website. He started working there in 2009 and taught geography and education classes, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, according to the résumé.
Lamb also has been linked to a slaying in Gautier, about 300 miles away in south Mississippi, though authorities have not provided many details about that slaying.
Gautier police spokesman Matthew Hoggatt told The Sun Herald that a woman was found dead in her home, and that Lamb is the suspect in her death.
“We’re working right now under the assumption that both events are related,” Hoggatt said. “We hope that they are not. But at this point in time, information indicates that they probably are linked in some way, shape or form.”
