A Montgomery County school administrator found dead in his McCarley home Thursday apparently died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, Carroll County Sheriff Jerry Carver said Saturday.
Theron G. Wilkes, 46, was assistant superintendent of education in Montgomery County. Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. today at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Winona, followed by a memorial service at 2 p.m.
Carver has been recuperating from knee surgery but said he has been kept up to date by those investigating the case.
The sheriff said Wilkes called emergency authorities on his cellphone Thursday morning, saying that someone with a gun was in the shed next to his house. Then, the sheriff said, either Wilkes hung up or the call was cut off. The dispatcher tried to get back with him but got no answer on the cellphone.
Wilkes was found in the shed with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest. Carver said Wilkes was still breathing and trying to talk when authorities arrived, but he died after they loaded him onto a helicopter. A 9mm semiautomatic weapon was found at the scene.
Wilkes’ body was sent to the Mississippi Crime Lab. Carver said Saturday that nothing had been put in writing yet officially saying that the death was a suicide. However, the sheriff said that based on what the investigator told him and what the medical examiner’s report said, it doesn’t appear that there is more to investigate. Carver said a neighbor reported hearing shots but hadn’t seen anyone entering or leaving Wilkes’ home. No other family members were at home at the time.
Wilkes had previously worked as a teacher and administrator in the Winona Public Schools. He also started a soccer program there and coached for 16 years. He ran for Carroll County school superintendent in 2011 as an independent but lost to Billy Joe Ferguson.
