Delta State killer wrote note saying he wanted to 'take it back'

Therese Apel, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger and John Bacon, USA TODAY | The Clarion-Ledger

Show Caption Hide Caption Police: Delta State killer turned gun on himself Police say the college instructor who murdered his girlfriend and a Delta State University professor killed himself as they closed in on him. Investigators say Shannon Lamb had no intention of being taken alive.

A geography instructor who killed two people and touched off a day of horror at Delta State University in Mississippi scribbled a note after shooting his live-in girlfriend to say he was very sorry and that he wished he "could take it back."

"I loved Amy and she is the only person who ever loved me," Shannon Lamb, 45, wrote on a page of plain white legal paper Monday morning after fatally shooting Amy Prentiss, 41.

Moments later, Lamb called police and told them where they could find the note and the body.

A detective played the 911 recording for reporters on Tuesday. At the beginning of the call, Lamb tells the operator that units need to be sent to a Gautier, Miss. address. When asked the reason, Lamb told the dispatcher, "I shot my wife last night."

He told the dispatcher there was a dog in the house as well. "He's a sweet dog. He's not going to bother anyone, but I'm sure he's upset," Lamb said.

Lamb then drove 300 miles before confronting and killing an assistant history professor on the university's campus in Cleveland. Hours after shooting Ethan Schmidt, Lamb was spotted driving through Greenville, Miss., and officers there tried to pull him over. He got out of the car and fatally shot himself as police closed in.

"We are continuing our investigation to search for a motive in the homicide of Amy Prentiss," Gautier police Detective Matt Hoggatt said in a release.

Cleveland Police Chief Buster Bingham strongly denied rumors of a love triangle.

"We have nothing to support that. We did not put that out as law enforcement representatives. We want to make sure the victim and his family are treated with respect," Bingham said. "That's one thing I want people to understand: we have nothing to indicate (a love triangle)."

It's unclear if Lamb had any previous mental history, but Delta State officials had said that Lamb had requested medical leave. Some friends said his problems stemmed from "being bitten."

"It was supposedly that he was bitten by a spider or something," Bingham confirmed.

Classes were canceled and a vigil was scheduled Tuesday at Delta State.

Delta State shooting suspect 911 call: 'I shot my wife' In a 911 call released by Gautier, Mississippi Police, Shannon Lamb asks authorities to check up on Amy Prentiss after admitting to shooting her. Police also released a note in which Lamb says he is "so sorry."

Lamb's death ended a harrowing day of lockdowns, SWAT teams and building-by-building searches at the 3,500-student campus. The lockdowns began shortly before 11 a.m. CT Monday, and students, faculty and staff were advised to take shelter. Students were evacuated from the school building by building and Monday classes were canceled.

Lamb said in the 911 call that he was not going to identify himself, but before he hung up, he told them Prentiss' name. He instructed authorities to "take care of her [Prentiss]."

"You'll find all of her family's phone numbers and things in her phone. You might want to contact them," he said.

#DSUFamily, campus lockdown is over. Suspect apprehended. Ethan Schmidt, RIP. Candlelight vigil on Quad Tues at 7pm. Be there. @DeltaState — William N. LaForge (@presidentDSU) September 15, 2015

The manhunt for Lamb had led his Facebook friends to post pleas that he turn himself in.

"I'm in shock and I really don't know what else to say. Listen to everyone and please turn yourself in," wrote Sangie Butler Alford.

Tommy Akers wrote, "Man, just turn yourself in bro!! Don't do anything to yourself or anyone else..."

Delta State President William LaForge said Lamb was a faculty member who taught online geography courses. He said Lamb had expressed some difficulty with a medical situation. LaForge said he did not know Lamb personally.

LaForge said he knew Schmidt, 39, very well. He had met him two years ago, when they were both new to the campus.

"He did a tremendous job as a history professor," LaForge said. "I thought the world of him. He was a star on our faculty at Delta State."

LaForge said both Lamb and Schmidt were colleagues in the same division on campus. "They knew each other," he said.

Schmidt wrote in an American Historical Association profile that he grew up in a family that valued history, his father a collector of Civil War and 19th century Kansas memorabilia and both parents involved in historic preservation. Most recently, according to his profile, he was working on two projects involving the Native American experience.

"I value the fact that inquiry for the sake of inquiry is honored in the profession," he wrote. "We never accept the conventional wisdom or current paradigm as an acceptable answer."

The school had planned a daylong celebration for Tuesday marking Delta State's 90th anniversary.

Contributing: Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY