Sheriff Bryan Bailey said Kurt Birdsong killed Walter Birdsong Jr. and Amanda Birdsong before dying by suicide.
FLORENCE, MS — Authorities have identified three people who died Friday in a Rankin County murder-suicide that began as a family land dispute and ended after an hours-long standoff at a home on Monterey Road.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said 56-year-old Kurt Tyler Birdsong is believed to have fatally shot his brother, 62-year-old Walter Earnest Birdsong Jr., and his sister-in-law, 43-year-old Amanda Lynn Birdsong. The victims were husband and wife, officials said. The sheriff’s office said the investigation remains open, but there was no active threat to the community after deputies found Kurt Birdsong dead inside the home.
Deputies were called just before 4 p.m. Friday to the 1400 block of Monterey Road after a report that two people had been shot and that an armed suspect had gone back inside a residence on the property. Bailey said investigators learned that several family members on the property had been involved in an ongoing dispute over family land. The dispute escalated into gunfire before deputies arrived. “It is just a sad situation for all of the family members,” Bailey said. He said several relatives came to the scene while deputies, SWAT members and other agencies worked around the property.
Rankin County Chief Deputy Coroner Cliff Dunlap said Walter Birdsong Jr. and Amanda Birdsong were pronounced dead at the scene. After deputies set up a perimeter, nearby residents were evacuated because of safety concerns. The sheriff’s office said the family was connected to a firearms-related business, which raised concerns about a possible elevated threat to law enforcement and neighbors. The sheriff’s office requested help from the FBI Jackson Field Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security and the Clinton Bomb Squad.
Authorities said armored vehicles later arrived at the scene as negotiators and SWAT team members tried several times to contact Kurt Birdsong. Bailey said those attempts were not successful. Deputies then used armored and technical equipment to breach the home. Inside, they found Kurt Birdsong dead in a bathroom from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officials have not released a detailed account of the moments before the shooting, the specific land issue at the center of the dispute or whether any other family members witnessed the gunfire.
The shooting drew a large law enforcement response to a rural stretch of Monterey Road near Florence. Residents described the area as quiet and said violent crime of that scale was unusual there. Randy Mann, who said he has lived on Monterey Road for 40 years, described the Birdsong family as hardworking and helpful. “They were good hard working people,” Mann said. Michael Blaine, another Monterey Road resident, said he was shocked by the shooting and called the deaths especially painful because authorities said the dispute was over land.
The Rankin County Sheriff’s Office said the case remains under investigation with continued assistance from the FBI and ATF. Because the suspected shooter died at the scene, officials have not announced any criminal charges. Investigators are expected to continue reviewing the shooting, the standoff response and the circumstances surrounding the reported land dispute. The sheriff’s office thanked deputies, dispatchers and outside agencies that responded to the scene.
As of Monday, authorities had identified the three people who died and said there was no ongoing danger to the public. The next update is expected to come from the sheriff’s office as the investigation develops.
Author note: Last updated May 11, 2026.