Six people dead with multiple injured in three shootings at Mississippi homecoming weekends
Four people were killed in an attack in Leland, while two were killed in Heidelberg, amid a third attack in Rolling Fork
Six people were killed and 18 others injured in three separate shootings at high school football homecoming celebrations in Mississippi, according to a number of local officials on Saturday. The most fatal incident took place around midnight on Friday in Leland, where four people died, John Lee, the mayor of the small city in Washington county, western Mississippi, said on Saturday morning. At least 16 were wounded in that incident, with four in critical condition airlifted to the state capital of Jackson and 12 others treated at local hospitals. Lee said that an attack happened on a main street in Leland, where crowds had gathered following the town’s high school homecoming game against Charleston high school. Few details have been confirmed, but local media reported that state senator Derrick Simmons said the shooting occurred during a gathering after the game. Simmons further said that four people had been airlifted to the University of Mississippi medical center in Jackson in critical condition. No suspects have been named or any details released but nobody was in custody as of Saturday afternoon in connection with the shooting. The Mississippi bureau of investigation is leading an inquiry, local media reported. Around 200 miles (320km) to the south-east, in Heidelberg, another small town in Mississippi, police on Saturday were also investigating a shooting during the local school’s homecoming weekend there that left two people dead. Later there were reports that a third shooting had occurred, on Friday night, at the South Delta high school in Rolling Fork, just 40 miles south of Leland in the Mississippi delta, in Sharkey county. In a statement posted on Facebook, the Sharkey county sheriff’s office said they had arrested and charged two individuals in connection with the Rolling Fork shooting, where local news outlets reported two people had been injured. Leland is a small city in Washington county, Mississippi, with a population of about 3,800 in 2023, according to Data USA. A staff member of the Leland police department, who did not offer a name, said in a statement that the incident remained under investigation, and declined to provide further details. The names of victims have not yet been disclosed. “I just want to send our condolences to the families of the deceased and to all those who are being treated,” Lee, the Leland mayor, said. “We need to be in prayer for our city.” Meanwhile, the chief of police in Heidelberg, Cornell White, speaking of the shooting that happened there at the school event, in Jasper county, said that two people had been killed. He declined to say whether the victims had been school students or provide further information about the incident. “Right now we’ve still got a subject at large, but I can’t give specifics,” White said on Saturday morning. An 18-year-old man was being sought for questioning in relation to the shooting there, the Jasper county sheriff’s office said in a statement. The Associated Press contributed reporting