High school homecoming celebrations in Mississippi ended in gunfire, with two separate shootings on opposite sides of the state on Friday night that left at least six people dead and many more injured, authorities said.
Four of the dead were killed in downtown Leland, after a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region on the state’s western edge, a state senator said on Saturday.
About 20 people were injured in the gunfire after people gathered in downtown Leland following the game, state Senator Derrick Simmons said. Of the 20 wounded, four were in critical condition and flown from a hospital in nearby Greenville to a larger medical centre in the state capital city of Jackson, Simmons told The Associated Press.
Simmons said he was being updated on developments by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office as well as from other law enforcement authorities in the Delta. “People were just congregating and having a good time in the downtown of Leland,” he said of the town with a population of fewer than 4,000 people.
The senator 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 on 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 asking any and all individuals who might have any information regarding the horrific shooting last night to come forward and provide whatever information they have,” he added.
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 on 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 on 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 on Friday night. The town of about 640 residents is about 85 miles (137 kilometres) southeast of the state capital of Jackson.
It was not clear exactly when the gunfire occurred or how close it was to the stadium. White said he was at the scene on Saturday investigating, and that more information might be released in the coming days.
Governor Tate Reeves said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is currently assisting local and federal law enforcement agencies in investigating. “Law enforcement officials will provide updates once they are available,” Reeves said in a social media post. “Our state is praying for the victims and their families, as well as the entire Heidelberg and Leland communities. 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 Senior 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 on Saturday.
