LELAND, Miss. (AP) — High school homecoming events in Mississippi ended tragically with gunfire, as two distinct shootings occurred at opposite ends of the state on Friday night. At least eight individuals lost their lives, and many others sustained injuries, according to authorities.
In the Mississippi Delta’s Leland, situated on the state’s western side, six people were killed following a high school football homecoming game, the county coroner reported. Meanwhile, on the eastern part of the state, a pregnant woman was among those who died, stated Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves.
About 20 people hurt in Delta region shooting
In Leland, four people were killed and two died later at a hospital, according to a statement from Washington County Coroner La’Quesha Watkins.
Approximately 20 individuals were injured from gunfire after gathering in the downtown area post-game, said state Sen. Derrick Simmons. Among them, four people were in critical condition and were transported from a nearby Greenville hospital to a larger medical facility in Jackson, the state’s capital, Simmons informed The Associated Press. He was receiving regular updates from law enforcement in the Delta region.
By Saturday, remnants of the chaos remained as pieces of yellow crime scene tape were still wrapped around a pole in the city’s small downtown area. The police tape extended across a boarded-up shopfront, entangled at the base of a sign honoring the late soul singer Tyrone Davis, who was born in the vicinity.
The crime scene is not far from City Hall, where family members gathered to seek answers. The media was not allowed inside.
“Residents were simply gathering and enjoying themselves in downtown Leland,” Simmons noted, reflecting on the town which hosts fewer than 4,000 inhabitants.
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.
A witness, Camish Hopkins, recounted scenes of wounded individuals bleeding from different parts of their bodies, with four people lying motionless on the ground.
“It was the most horrific scene I’d ever seen,” Hopkins told The Associated Press after the meeting at City Hall.
Police shouted at people to keep behind crime-scene tape in the chaos, Hopkins added.
“No one was trying to really help,” Hopkins said. “Leland failed Leland yesterday, but I know that we can do better because this isn’t Leland.”
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.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is helping local and federal law enforcement agencies in investigating, the governor said.
“Our state is praying for the victims and their families, as well as the entire Heidelberg and Leland communities,” Reeves said in a social media post. “Those responsible will be brought to justice.”
A third shooting under investigation, sheriff says
In Sharkey County, Mississippi, also in the Mississippi Delta region, the local sheriff was investigating yet another shooting after a high school football game in the area, authorities said.
Two people have been arrested in that shooting, which happened at a local school after its game Friday night, Sharkey County Sheriff Herbert Ceaser Sr. said in a statement.
The statement did not include any information on possible injuries, but said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family during this incredibly difficult time.” The sheriff could not immediately be reached for more information.
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Associated Press writer Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed.
