An arrest has been made in the Sunday evening shooting in Broad Street Park that left two — including a Greenwood eighth- grader — wounded.
Robert Phillips, 25, 205 Mockingbird Lane, is being held at the Leflore County Jail, charged with two counts of aggravated assault in the shooting.
Xavier Hunt, 14, 703 Ash St., was critically wounded when a bullet passed through his left chest and through a lung and shattered ribs.
He is being treated at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. A current condition report wasn’t available from the hospital, but Greenwood Acting Police Chief Ray Moore said Xavier was listed in stable condition as of Tuesday afternoon.
Xavier’s cousin, Renaldo Hunt, 25, 408 Front St., Sidon, was hit in the upper right thigh and was treated and released Sunday night at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
Moore said that Phillips has been identified as one of the shooters. Moore said the investigation into the shooting is continuing and there may be additional arrests — as well as additional charges against Phillips.
Xavier, a student at Greenwood Middle School, appeared to be an innocent bystander when gunfire erupted on an otherwise beautiful evening.
“The best information we have, he was not a target at all,” Moore said. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Luckily for Xavier, though, another person was in the right one.
Jarvis Broom, a U.S. Navy corpsman, was in the park at the time of the shooting and rushed to Xavier’s assistance.
The Greenwood native was home on leave visiting family and had taken a 12-year-old nephew to the park when the shooting broke out.
“It was a typical Sunday evening with everybody from all over the city. You have the different neighborhoods that come together to that park,” said Broom, 25. “It really just happened kind of suddenly. We saw people just sitting on vehicles, and the next thing you know, there are gunshots and everybody is screaming and running.”
Broom said he initially tried to locate his nephew as gunfire — coming, according to Broom, from at least two weapons — continued to ring out across the crowded park, continuing for at least 45 seconds.
Then he noticed a child.
“I looked up and saw the little boy grabbing his chest, and he was scratching like something had hit him,” Broom said. “He looked like he was in panic, and then he just fell down. That’s when I knew that little boy had got shot. Before I knew it, I was running toward the little boy. My instincts took over.
“I got there, and I asked him if he was OK. He told me, ‘They shot me.’ He looked like he wanted to cry,” Broom said. The combat-certified medic reassured Xavier that he was in good care.
“I ripped his shirt off, and I was looking for the gunshot wound,” Broom said. “I saw the blood but didn’t see the wound, so I took my shirt off and wiped the blood off his chest to try to find it.”
Eventually, Broom said he located both the entrance wound in the boy’s upper chest and the exit wound in his back, a quarter-sized hole between his shoulder blades, about a quarter of an inch from the boy’s spine.
When Greenwood police officers arrived on the scene, they were able to secure the area while Broom treated the wounded teenager.
Broom used a plastic shopping bag and the plastic wrapping on a packet of gauze to try to stop the sucking chest wound from collapsing and filling Xavier’s lungs with blood.
Xavier was airlifted to the Jackson hospital. Moore said Broom’s quick response and advanced training likely made the difference between life and death for Xavier.
“His actions probably helped save that child’s life,” Moore said. “He was right there. He did a fantastic job. He controlled the bleeding until the ambulance arrived. We can’t thank him enough.”
Broom said he’s never had to treat a gunshot wound during his five years in the military.
Hanging out in a park during leave, Broom said, was hardly the moment he expected to need to use his medical training.
Broom said the fact that the victim was so young was shocking and difficult to process. Xavier, Broom said, was a neighbor of his nephew’s and someone he usually saw whenever he came back on leave.
“It was the most unexpected thing I could’ve ever imagined. It’s not the way I picture my city,” Broom said. “You come home and expect to see everything, remember the city for the good and not the bad. This is terrible. It’s a sour taste in my mouth and my spirit.”
Still, Broom said he was hoping to see the positive in the situation, that perhaps God had placed him in the park to help save a life.
“Maybe I was meant to be there,” Broom said. “He didn’t want to let that child die. That’s why he brought me back.”
The Greenwood police have been stepping up patrols in area parks in response to the shooting, Moore said. “We’re going to have extra officers out to try to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
Moore said such a young victim to a senseless crime is a rarity in the community, but truly shocking.
Anyone who witnessed the shooting or might have information about the perpetrators are encouraged to call the Greenwood Police Department (453-3311) or the Crimestoppers confidential tip line (1-800-222-8477).
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
