A Mississippi high school homecoming celebration ended in a shooting, and at least six people were killed and many more injured in two separate shootings on the other side of the state Friday night, authorities said.
State senators announced Saturday that four of the dead were killed in downtown Leland after a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region in the far west of the state.
State Sen. Derrick Simmons said people gathered in downtown Leland after the game and about 20 people were injured in gunfire. Simmons told The Associated Press that four of the 20 injured were in critical condition and were airlifted from a hospital in nearby Greenville to a larger medical center in the state capital, Jackson.
Simmons said he is receiving updates from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement authorities in the Delta region.
“People were gathering in downtown Leland and having a good time,” Simmons said of the town of fewer than 4,000 people.
He said the scene was “extremely chaotic” after the shooting, with police, sheriff’s deputies and ambulances “responding from all over.”
“It’s just senseless gun violence,” he said. “What we’re experiencing right now is just a proliferation of guns in circulation.”
No arrests have been announced, and Simmons said late Saturday morning that he had not heard any information about the possible suspect.
“They are working on the ground and I believe they will get to the bottom of this matter,” he said.
He added: “As the state senator for this area, I am asking any individuals who may have information regarding last night’s horrific shooting to come forward and provide any information they have.”
Two people killed in separate shooting in east Mississippi
Meanwhile, police in Heidelberg, a small town in eastern Mississippi, are investigating the deaths of two people in a weekend shooting during a homecoming trip in the area.
Heidelberg Police Chief Cornel White said both men were killed on the school campus Friday night. He declined to say whether the victim was a student or provide other information about the crime.
“At this point, we still have a general theme, but I can’t give you any specifics,” White said Saturday morning.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that an 18-year-old man was being investigated in connection with the Heidelberg shooting. The sheriff asked anyone with information to contact the police chief or sheriff’s office.
The Heidelberg shooting occurred Friday night on the school’s campus where the Heidelberg Oilers were playing their homecoming football game. The town of about 640 people is located about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southeast of the state capital, Jackson.
It’s unclear exactly when the shooting occurred or how close it was to the stadium. White said he was at the scene Saturday to investigate and more information could be released in the coming days.
