9 killed in separate shootings as Mississippi schools celebrate homecoming
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • last year • 26 commentsBy: The Associated PressBy The Associated Press
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
LELAND, Miss. — School homecoming celebrations in Mississippi ended in gunfire, with separate shootings on opposite sides of the state Friday and Saturday night that left at least nine people dead and many more injured, authorities said.
Six were killed in downtown Leland after a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region on the state's western edge, according to the county coroner. South of Leland, one person died in a shooting at Alcorn State University, state authorities said. On the east side of the state, a pregnant woman was among the dead, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said.
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.
Some 20 people were injured in the gunfire after people gathered in the downtown area following the game, state Sen. Derrick Simmons said. Of those, four were in critical condition and were flown from a hospital in nearby Greenville to a larger medical center in the state capital, Jackson, Simmons told The Associated Press. He was being updated on developments from law enforcement authorities in the Delta.
On Saturday, pieces of tattered, yellow crime scene tape were wrapped around a pole in the city's tiny downtown area. The police tape could also be seen in front of a boarded-up storefront, tangled up at the base of a sign commemorating the late soul singer Tyrone Davis, who was born nearby.
The crime scene is not far from City Hall, where family members gathered to seek answers. The media was not allowed inside.
"People were just congregating and having a good time in the downtown 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.
One witness, Camish Hopkins, described seeing people wounded and bleeding from various parts of their bodies and four people lying dead 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."
1 dead in shooting at Alcorn State University
One person died after shots rang out at Alcorn State University, state investigators said.
The gunfire happened around 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the area of the school's industrial technology building, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. Officers found three people who'd been shot, one of whom died.
The shooting happened during homecoming week for the small school of around 3,000 students. The historically Black university is located in Claiborne County, to the state's southwest.
No arrests had been made Saturday night, the state investigation bureau said.
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 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."
Arrests made following shooting after football game
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.
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Bella LoBue contributed.
Tags
Who is online
119 visitors
How can you tolerate the massive amount of American gun violence? How can you justify it? It is beyond my capability to understand.
Do you have any practical solutions, Buzz?
The right to bear arms was established by law when the country was founded, as there was no standing army and each citizen was responsible for their own safety and sustenance, as well as looking out for his neighbors. Most normal American citizens can spend their entire lives with no fear of being a random gun victim. The vast majority of gun violence occurs at the hands of criminals and psycho's....many of whom appear to be leftists.
It's true that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away, so we have to depend on ourselves for self-protection.
I've previously posted that the only solution is to give guns and ammunition to EVERY resident over the age of 12 a gun and ammo, which will enable the probable reduction of the population until those eventually remaining no longer have to justify the need for them.
Who attempts to justify it, Buzz? Does anyone say, yeah, these shootings are okay by us? But really, that isn't the real problem with your post. The real problem is that you put it in terms of "American gun violence", as if it is the guns that are the problem. As if the guns are what drives the violence. What simply amazes me, what I find so hard to understand, is the idea many people have that if we just get rid of the guns, everything will be okay. Problem solved. Everyone is going to hold hands and just get along.
The actual problem is this multiculturalism bullshit we're being told is good for America. It absolutely is not. Gun violence would go way down if we all ascribed to one general culture. That is, if we all get on the right page, and getting rid of guns has nothing to do with it.
Most murders, and by extension, shootings like this one, are committed by people within a certain set of circumstances. The poorest of the poor, concentrated in the same geographical areas. The culture of these demographics is what I call reactive cultures. Their circumstances decide their culture. Streed cred, circumstances justifying actions, warped value systems and so on.
The answer to gun violence is not removing the guns. It is in changing the culture. There are countless stories of people lifting themselves out of the poverty and subsequent culture that glorifies or justifies shootings like this one. Instead, many just act like animals and doing whatever satisfies their person desires. That is what is killing people. The gun is just the tool.
Then why is it that other civilized western nations whose culture is similar do not have anywhere near the same gun problem that America does? Other nations have poor people, immigrants, so why don't they have the same high rate of gun violence? Of course they don't have an NRA or a Second Amerndment.
What other civilized western nations are you speaking of? Whatever you name, they are a) going to have a much smaller population than the US, which means that b) they are going to be much more homogenized concerning culture. That is why I think multiculturalism is crap.
Canada has O.72 gun related deaths per 100,000 per year, the US has 5.4 gun related deaths per 100,000 per year. Both nations are multicultural.
we're number 1, we're number 1 ...
What do you consider multiculturalism to be?
Seeing as a picture is worth a tome or two ...
If you want to know more:
Only on AM radio.
Right. Even though you aren't taking this seriously, I will answer seriously.
You said:
Prior to Canada's first major gun ban in 1995, the murder rate was 1.76 per 100,000 in 1994, according to ChatGPT. Since then, it has been higher in most years, the most recent being 1.93 in 2023, with the highest being 2.25 in the previous year. Again, according to ChatGPT. So the ban, or restrictions, have had no measurable effect.
Further, concerning something like a ban on so-called assault weapons, approximately 80% of Canadians support a ban, whereas only about 50% to 60% in the US do, suggesting that Canadians are far more homogenous concerning the issue.
Prompt : Is this true?: " Canada has O.72 gun related deaths per 100,000 per year, the US has 5.4 gun related deaths per 100,000 per year. "
ChatGPT Response :
Prompt : Is this true?: " Prior to Canada's first major gun ban in 1995, the murder rate was 1.76 per 100,000 in 1994, according to ChatGPT. Since then, it has been higher in most years, the most recent being 1.93 in 2023, with the highest being 2.25 in the previous year. Again, according to ChatGPT. So the ban, or restrictions, have had no measurable effect. "
ChatGPT Response :
I didn't ask my question in relation to gun related murders. I asked about murders, period. My reasoning is that murder is murder and, supposedly, if guns are a significant factor, murder rates should fall. According to the data ChatGPT gave me, they did not.
The difference in the numbers is that I asked for murder rates which, according to ChatGPT are not the same as homicide rates, according to how Canada approaches those terms. In other words, homicide includes a larger pool than murder.
Further, in response to your post, I asked what the average murder rate in Canada has been for the last 30 years. It returned ~1.6 to ~1.9. Unsurprisingly, 1.76 is almost exactly between those two figures. To my mind, Canada's laws concerning guns have had no effect other than to restrict rights of citizens. How do you see it?
Note that I did nothing in my post other than ask ChatGPT to opine on yours and Hallux' claims.
Gun laws will have a minimal effect in any society with available guns since those who have the intent to commit crimes with guns will find a way to get the guns.
In the short term, the key really is the availability of guns. The USA has the highest availability of guns per capita (number two does not even compete) and thus there is not a lot we are going to be able to do in the short term to quell gun violence. Our best short-term measures will be hardening targets and doing what we can to identify potential murderers. Not easy.
I saw that immediately. Point?
So, not culture?
Cultural change is a long-term proposition.
Agreed. However, gun bans/restrictions do not seem to solve the problem. After replying to 1.2.11 I spent my time examining gun bans/restrictions in England by means of ChatGPT. The UK began gun bans/restrictions in 1920 so I started from 1900. Concerning those bans/restrictions, the data seem inconclusive at best. Rather, rises and falls of murder rates appeared to be tied to other factors which, to my mind, were more attributable to cultural issues. I wonder what you would come away with if you examined the question.
In any case, cultural change is a long-term proposition. However, depending on the change, it has far more promise than simply ending gun violence. A cultural change that emphasizes personal responsibility based on a moral code would do far more than affecting gun deaths, don't you think?
What did you take from my answer @1.2.11?
Indeterminate. We seem to agree about short term solutions, assuming I understand your position correctly, but I am uncertain as to your long-term solution.
I have no good long term solution.
so when is POS/POTUS going to send the national guard into the missishitty war zone?
With the way our country is slipping into the tiny handed robber Barron bandit, neither side here will wish for guns to be a band it or aban Don, cause that is a much better choice that could make many rejoice, cause gun violence, know matter how barbaric, is not on too many peoples minds here as of late, asz everyone seems to be watchin and waitin for US to be again, made Great, again....
I watch and read on the internet the news every morning, and pretty well every morning there is a report of a shooting, usually a mass shooting, somewhere in the USA, now actually TWO in Mississippi. Day after day there is gun violence in America. My son, his wife and my three young grandchildren live in Milwuakee and I worry about their safety. I know that as long as "small hands" is empowered there is no way there will be any effective gun control enacted.