By John Howell
Authorities are investigating the Monday morning murder of a Holly Springs woman whose assailant is believed to have killed himself Tuesday night as law enforcement officers closed in on him at a home on Henderson Road southeast of Batesville.

Marshall County Deputy Sheriff Kelly McMillen said his officers responded to a call at 11:27 a.m. Monday to find Sharon Walls, 45, also known as Sharon Smith, dead at her home from a gunshot wound. Officers quickly determined that Keith Berry of Olive Branch was a suspect, Marshall County Sheriff Kenny Dickerson said.

By late Tuesday authorities learned that Berry might be at the Henderson Road address, McMillen said.

As local officers, officers from the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the Mississippi Highway Patrol and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation approached the Henderson Road location, the suspect walked into the yard of the home and shot himself, Panola County Sheriff’s Department Detective Terry Smith said.

Smith said that the resident of the Henderson Road home had no idea that Berry was a murder suspect.