A mother distraught over the loss of her 26-year-old son in a double homicide last year has one overriding request.
“I want justice for my son. That’s all I want,” said May Hampton, the mother of Cordarius Arterberry, who was killed along with 25-year-old Zarquavious Sanders on Nov. 10, 2023, while in a parked car outside of an Itta Bena barber shop.
“I lost a child. This is my first time to lose a child, and I don’t want to lose another one,” she said. “This mother is going to do something about it. My child didn’t get killed for nothing. I want justice for my son.”
About a week after the shooting, Itta Bena police separately arrested two brothers — first Andraus Griggs, 25, and then Jammario Griggs, 27. The Griggs brothers, both of Itta Bena, were charged with murder in connection to the deaths of Arterberry and Sanders.
Andraus Griggs
On Jan. 25, Leflore County Court Judge James Littleton found the state did not have enough probable cause against Andraus Griggs for his murder charge to be bound over to a grand jury.
Jammario Griggs
Jammario Griggs remains charged in connection with the deaths of both Arterberry and Sanders.
A preliminary hearing was supposed to be held in February for Jammario Griggs, but Littleton postponed the proceeding until March 22 because the Itta Bena officer who investigated the fatal shooting was unable to be present.
“I’m going to continue this one time,” Littleton said in court. “If the state cannot present evidence at the next hearing, I will dismiss this case.”
After the release of Andraus Griggs, Hampton was angered and saddened, said her sister Terina Reedy, who lives outside of Memphis in Arkansas.
“My sister is hurting,” Reedy said. “She’s just not herself. She is grieving for her son. She wants justice for her son and for Zarquavious.”
So Reedy wrote a letter to the Commonwealth on her sister’s behalf, explaining Hampton’s grief and the need for the Itta Bena public to step up and help investigators.
“My family, along with the Sanders family, has taken a tremendous loss of our loved ones. All we want is justice,” the letter states. “Due to the carelessness, selfish, senseless actions, we’ve lost our loved ones forever. The lives lost meant something to their loved ones. Someone’s child, brother, cousin, nephew, friend, mostly someone’s father was taken away.”
Arterberry was the father of five children — ages 8, 5, 4, 3 and 2. His death has devastated his children, the family said during a telephone interview.
The letter continues, “This senseless tragedy has left families scarred forever. Life hasn’t and will never be the same. Out of all of this, all we want is fair justice for the loss of our loved ones.”
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At least 15 bullet holes can be seen on the passenger’s side of the vehicle Cordarius Arterberry and Zarquavious Sanders had been sitting in before a November 2023 shooting that claimed both their lives. (By Andy Lo, Copyright 2023 Emmerich Newspapers, Inc.)
On a Friday night last fall, friends Sanders and Arterberry pulled up to a barber shop on County Road 507 in Itta Bena for a haircut. While they were sitting in a car in the shop’s parking lot, the vehicle was struck by a spray of bullets.
A photograph shot from the passenger’s side of the silver Nissan Altima in which they sat shows multiple bullet holes in the car’s front passenger door and window and on the driver’s side of the car’s front windshield. At least 15 bullet holes can be seen on the car’s passenger side.
Photos taken after the shooting also show damage to the car’s front fender on the passenger’s side, caused apparently by a collision with another vehicle — also a silver Nissan Altima — at the scene. That second car was later removed by authorities from the parking lot.
It is unknown how and when these two vehicles collided. Multiple photos of the second vehicle show no visible bullet holes in the car.
According to Leflore County Coroner Debra Sanders, Zarquavious Sanders — who is not related to the coroner — was seated in the driver’s side of the car and died from multiple gunshot wounds. Arterberry, who was seated on the passenger’s side, died from a single gunshot to his chest, the coroner said.
The double homicide was investigated by the Itta Bena Police Department, which is led by Chief James Stonewall, who did not respond in November to requests from the Commonwealth seeking additional information about the shooting.
The first to be charged was Andraus Griggs, about a week later. He was also charged with possession of a weapon by a felon.
A few days later, his older brother, Jammario Griggs, was charged with one count of murder and one count of discharging a firearm inside city limits.
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Members of Arterberry’s family said they weren’t aware that Andraus Griggs had been released until sometime after the Jan. 25 preliminary hearing had been held.
“I didn’t know anything about the court date,” said Hampton. “Everybody was calling us and saying, ‘That boy got released from jail.’ We didn’t know anything. And then on top of that, Mr. Stonewall didn’t give no police report at all about what happened to my son. I don’t got nothing — period.”
The family has been frustrated with the Itta Bena Police Department’s handling of this case.
Hampton said an investigator with the Police Department, who she said no longer works there, told the family in November that “four individuals were supposed to be arrested.”
Hampton’s husband, Levi Hampton, said he was told by the investigator that right after his son, Arterberry, and Sanders pulled up to the barber shop, they were ambushed by shooters who came from the side of the building.
After the investigator left the department, according to the Hamptons, the family had issues getting information or updates about the case.
In the Jan. 26 preliminary hearing of Andraus Griggs, however, it was reported that there was an exchange of gunfire and that Andraus Griggs had been shot in the stomach and taken to Greenwood Leflore Hospital for treatment.
Andraus Griggs’ attorney, David Norquist of Cleveland, said during the hearing that his client not only did not fire a weapon at the victims but was, in fact, unarmed.
Itta Bena police investigator Fred Randle presented the department’s evidence.
When asked by the judge where the two victims were when they were shot, Randle said they were in their vehicle. “The windows were down, and they did fire weapons, but we don’t know who shot first,” Randle said.
May Hampton believes differently, saying, “It was not a shootout. It was an ambush.”
Photos of the victims’ vehicle would appear to support her claim, at least as it pertains to her son. The numerous bullet holes in the rolled-up window on the passenger’s side suggest all the gunfire on that side of the car was incoming.
Hampton also alleges that two others were involved in the double homicide — a male and a female who have not been arrested.
In the letter from Hampton, submitted by her sister, it states, “There has been some withheld information that's not being shared with the victims’ families. We think that whatever that's happening with the case, we have rights to know the status of the case. We’re entitled to that.”
In the February preliminary hearing for Jammario Griggs, Stonewall told the judge that Randle was unable to attend to testify.
Littleton asked if the police chief could testify, and he said all he had done was process the warrant for Griggs’ arrest. “We have a case here where two people were killed, and it deserves an investigation. I am somewhat dumbfounded by this,” Littleton replied.
They family believes that not all of the evidence is being presented, and the Hamptons are confused about why.
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Randle noted in court in January that one difficulty with this case is that no has been willing to talk to police about what happened the night of the shooting.
When Littleton ruled to dismiss Andraus Griggs’ murder charge, he said he was also troubled by the public’s reluctance to assist in the investigation.
“The lack of testimony from multiple witnesses on the scene really bothers me,” he said. “Someone needed to come forward. That said, the state failed to meet the standard needed in this case. Probable cause was not presented.”
Hampton is pleading for someone with information about what happened the night she lost her son to come forward.
“Our lost loved ones can't speak for themselves, so we as a family have to be their voice, and our voices want to be heard,” Hampton’s letter says. “We just want some well-deserved justice behind this life-changing situation that has changed our everyday lives drastically. We want justice, not injustice.”
- Contact Ruthie Robison at 662-581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com. Contact Jeff Byrd at 662-581-7233 or jbyrd@gwcommonwealth.com.
