High school homecoming celebrations in Mississippi concluded in gunfire, with two distinct shootings on opposite sides of the state Friday night that resulted in at least six fatalities and many more injuries, authorities reported.
Four of the deceased were killed in downtown Leland, following a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region on the state’s western border, a state senator mentioned on Saturday.
Approximately 20 individuals were injured in the shooting after congregating in downtown Leland following the game, according to state Sen. Derrick Simmons. Of the 20 injured, four were in critical condition and were transported from a local hospital in Greenville to a larger medical institution in the state capital of Jackson, Simmons informed The Associated Press.
Simmons stated he was being briefed on developments by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in addition to other law enforcement agencies in the Delta.
“People were simply gathering and enjoying themselves in the downtown area of Leland,” Simmons said of the town with a population of fewer than 4,000 people.
He was told that after the gunfire, the scene was “very chaotic,” as police, sheriff’s deputies and ambulances “responded from all over.”
“It’s just senseless gun violence,” he said. “What we are experiencing now is just a proliferation of guns just being in circulation.”
No arrests have been announced, and Simmons said late Saturday morning that he had not heard any information about possible suspects.
“They are on the ground working and I have all the faith in the world that they will get to the bottom of this,” he said.
“As the state senator for the area, we are urging any and all individuals who might possess any information about the horrific shooting last night to come forward and share whatever information they have,” he continued.
A separate shooting in eastern Mississippi killed 2
Meanwhile, police in the small Mississippi town of Heidelberg in the eastern part of the state are investigating a shooting during that community’s homecoming weekend that left two people dead.
Both of them were killed on the school campus Friday night, Heidelberg Police Chief Cornell White said. He declined to say whether the victims were students or provide other information about the crimes.
“Right now we’ve still got a subject at large, but I can’t give specifics,” White said Saturday morning.
An 18-year-old man was being sought for questioning in the Heidelberg shooting, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The sheriff asked that anyone with information contact the police chief or sheriff’s office.
The shooting in Heidelberg happened on the school campus where the Heidelberg Oilers were playing their homecoming football game Friday night. The town of about 640 residents is about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southeast of the state capital of Jackson.
It wasn’t clear exactly when the gunfire occurred or how close it was to the stadium. White said he was at the scene Saturday investigating, and that more information might be released in coming days.
