Multiple people were killed and wounded early Saturday after a homecoming football game in a small Mississippi town.
Mayor John Lee said 16 people were shot and four were killed near downtown Leland around midnight, according to CNN. Later Saturday, Darkhorse Press reported that the death toll had reached six. Other reports indicated 12 were shot. It remains unclear if Lee counted the four reported killings in his figure of 16.
No one is in custody, he added.
The shooting did not take place near Leland High School, Lee said.
Leland has about 4,000 residents and is about 115 miles northwest of Jackson.
“We’ve never had anything like this happen, we’re a city of low crime rate,” Lee said, according to USA Today. “Everybody knows each other, we’re closely knit here in the city of Leland.”
Democratic state Sen. Derrick Simmons said for of the people wounded were in critical condition, according to the Associated Press.
Four other victims who were among about 20 people injured in the shooting were taken to a hospital in Greenville and then flown to a larger hospital in the state capital city of Jackson, where they were in critical condition, Simmons told The Associated Press.
“People were just congregating and having a good time in the downtown of Leland,” Simmons said.
After the shots rang out, the scene was “very chaotic,” as multiple agencies responded, he added.
“They are on the ground working and I have all the faith in the world that they will get to the bottom of this,” Simmons 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.”
The Leland shootings were not the only ones that took place late Friday or early Saturday in Mississippi.
Two people were shot to death in Heidelberg at the town’s high school football field, according to WDAM-TV.
Heidelberg Police Chief Cornell White said one additional person was wounded.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department said Tylar Jarod Goodloe, 18, who was identified as a person of interest in the shooting was taken into custody on Saturday.
In Sharkey County, two people were charged in connection with a shooting that took place at. South Delta High School in Rolling Fork, according to WLBT-TV.
“The Sharkey County Sheriff’s Department has arrested and charged two individuals in connection with the shooting that occurred outside of the football game at our local school last night,” the department posted on Facebook.
“Sheriff Ceaser want to make it absolutely clear that acts of violence in our community will not be tolerated. Our team of law enforcement officers are committed to pursuing justice swiftly and ensuring the safety of all residents and visitors that come to our county.”
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