Wayne County mother speaks out about mental health after son killed in attempted burglary

PINE BELT, Mississippi (WDAM) – Shortly after 11 p.m. on Monday, May 20, Wayne County Sheriff’s officers were called to the scene of a fatal shooting on Revette Drive in State Line.

Sheriff Jerry Mosley says Roderick Lafayette was shot while trying to break into a neighbor’s home.

“He had ripped the bars off the glass door,” Mosley said. “Then he kicked the glass out of the door. Then he kicked through the wooden door when he shot him.”

Neighbors called 911, and when Lafayette’s mother, Juanita Whigham, received news of the shooting, she said her worst fears had come true.

“I expected this to happen a long time ago,” Whigham said.

Whigham says she watched her son’s mental health deteriorate for nearly two decades – sometimes evident in pictures hanging in his room.

“He had a picture of a monster that he supposedly encountered at night,” Whigham said. “He said it only came to him at night.”

For this reason, Whigham says, she sought help but was unable to find a long-term solution.

“They would put you in for a week or two,” she said. “That’s not long enough. I’ve tried to get long-term facilities. There’s nothing like that in Mississippi.”

In the weeks since her son’s death, Whigham says she has been in touch with affected neighbors – people she had known since childhood.

“I made up with Ken. He came to apologize to me,” Whigham said. “I told him to do what he had to do to protect his family.”

Want more WDAM 7 news delivered to your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

All rights reserved.