Warrant: Before deadly rampage, Cumberland County murder suspect said he was starting fire

Just before allegedly burning his rental home to the ground and shooting two neighbors, killing one, Mattias "DJ" Bagby reportedly fired off an angry text to his mother who was upset he'd pawned her iPad, court records state.

"I'm lighting everything on fire now," a search warrant affidavit claims Bagby, 45, wrote in a 10:43 a.m. message on Feb. 19. It was followed two minutes later by a second message.

"I hope it was worth it you (expletive)."

About 15 minutes later, one of Bagby's neighbors on Evans Dairy Road would be dead, another critically injured, and the 1,900 square-foot home rented by Bagby and his mother would be ablaze.

He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, breaking and entering with intent to terrorize and two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling in the killing of Richard Yarborough, 69, and injury of David Matthews, 79, arrest records show.

According to the charging document, Bagby burst into the home Matthews and his wife Patsy owned for nearly 40 years and shot David Matthews twice.

The report states that when Matthews' 80-year-old wife ran next door to neighbor Yarborough for help, the retired Duke Energy employee responded and was killed in the driveway.

"He's in the yard shooting and he has set his house on fire," Yarborough's wife Pamela cried out at 11:02 a.m. in a 911 call from the quiet road on the south end of the county. She said her husband was lying in the driveway. "Hurry ma'am, please get the ambulance here."

Related: Cumberland County Sherriff's Office releases name of victim killed in Monday shooting

When the dispatcher asked if the caller was safe, the frightened woman responded, "I'm in the house but he just shot through the door and he busted in on the next-door neighbor's."

In the 10-minute call — the time it took for deputies to get to the rural scene tucked in the woods between Interstate 95 and the Cape Fear River — Pamela Yarborough continued, "He's walking in the backyard of our neighbor's house with a pistol... I hear him going, 'You (expletives), this is what you get.'"

"We ain't done nothing to him. Not a thing," she said.

Two minutes after Yarborough first called 911, David Matthews also called, according to the dispatch log.

"My neighbor come up and shot me and he killed somebody across the street," Matthews said.

He said he was in his house, that he didn't know where the shooter was, and that he was bleeding badly.

"Where are you shot at?" the dispatcher asked.

"All over. He shot me twice," Matthews said.

Later in the call, he said he was shot in the chest. At one point, a wounded Matthews and his wife Patsy tried to barricade themselves in a room, fearing the shooter had re-entered their home.

'I couldn't take it anymore.'

When deputies arrived at the scene, gunshots were still being fired from behind Bagby's burning home on 1934 Evans Dairy Road, the warrant states.

Richard Yarborough was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. David Matthews was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. His condition on Monday was not known. Both women were treated for chest pains, the record states.

According to the court records, the Matthews told a detective that in the past they had been harassed and threatened by their neighbor, the affidavit states. Bagby, the Matthews and the Yarboroughs shared a concrete driveway off Evans Dairy Road. Bagby's home was on a parcel of land directly behind the Matthews house.

According to the affidavit, the assault began when Bagby allegedly busted through the Matthews back door and shot David Matthews. When the Yarboroughs went to help, Richard Yarborough was killed. The affidavit said that a shot was fired at Pamela Yarborough as she ran inside her home. At least one round went through the Yarboroughs' door. The couple would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary March 22, Richard Yarborough's obituary said.

Some 45 minutes after the first call to 911, Bagby was arrested after a brief foot pursuit, the Sheriff's Office said.

More: Child killed, three others injured in Cumberland County house fire

In an interview with lawmen, according to the affidavit, Bagby's mother Lorraine reportedly said that just before the rampage, she and her son argued because he'd pawned her iPad to get money for bills. Civil court records show the Bagbys were being evicted from the home owned by Corada Properties LLC.

The record states that detectives obtained text messages between Bagby and his mother, in which Bagby threatened to set the house on fire, and noted that a day after the shooting, investigators obtained audio of alleged jailhouse phone calls between Bagby and his mother in which he asked, "Ma, did you hear what I did?"

"Why did you burn the house down?" his mother reportedly asked.

"Mattias Bagby replied, 'I got pissed off.' 'I snapped.' 'I couldn't take it anymore,'" the affidavit states.

Bagby remained in the Cumberland County jail on Monday. He is being held without bail, according to jail records.

Public safety reporter Joseph Pierre can be reached at jpierre@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville murder suspect allegedly texted mother before murder