A 24-year-old Greenwood man has been charged with four murders from two separate incidents, including last weekend’s mass shooting at a family’s post-funeral gathering.
Stigler
Authorities say at this point they believe that Tyrell Stigler, 126 Grenada Lane, did not know his victims at that fatal shooting or another one that occurred Sept. 17.
Stigler was charged Thursday night by Greenwood police with two counts of murder in connection with the mass shooting that occurred Oct. 24 on the 400 block of West Martin Luther King Drive that killed two people and injured eight others.
Stigler was charged with two other counts of murder in connection with a September shooting on East Johnson Street that killed two people.
Stigler was also charged with eight counts of aggravated assault, shooting into a dwelling, possession of marijuana enhanced by a firearm and trafficking in a controlled substance (ecstasy).
Stigler was apprehended Tuesday at the Golden Coach Inn, Deputy Police Chief Marvin Hammond said.
Video surveillance from security cameras installed throughout the city as well as tips provided to the CrimeStoppers anonymous tip line were instrumental in Stigler’s arrest, Hammond said.
Authorities believe that Stigler used the same AR-15 semiautomatic rifle in both shooting incidents. Shell casings of that type of firearm were collected at both crime scenes.
The police have confiscated an AR-15 that was in Stigler’s possession and now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal agency, will trace the weapon in order to determine from where it came, Hammond said.
A motivation for either shooting remains unclear, according to Hammond. Stigler has not provided a reason for the shootings, the deputy chief said.
“We have an investigative theory, but we can’t put that out as of yet,.”
The surviving victims and the families of the deceased in the two shootings have not indicated that they know Stigler, Hammond said.
Stigler has a criminal history, according to Hammond, but he was unable to immediately provide details Friday. A search of the Commonwealth’s archives turned up no reporting of prior arrests.
Three men and seven women were shot at an outdoor gathering held the night of Oct. 24 following a funeral for Elizabeth Hunt Pitts. Some of the victims were from Greenwood and some were visitors from Chicago in town for the funeral.
Jonathan Pitts, 42, and his sister Katrina Pitts, 41, were killed in the shooting. Both were from Chicago.
On the night of Sept. 17, two 34-year-old Greenwood men, Larry Montgomery and William McGee Jr., were fatally wounded in the shooting on East Johnson Street.
There have been 22 homicides in Greenwood and other parts of Leflore County this year. All but one have involved firearms.
• Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
