Two more shootings in Leflore County — one in Greenwood and another outside the city limits — occurred between late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning in a continuing wave of gun violence.
There have been six shooting incidents in the past week, claiming two lives and injuring seven others.
The most recent shootings started on Wednesday, around 11:28 p.m. The Leflore County Sheriff’s Department received a call reporting shots fired at Bishop Apartments, Sheriff Ricky Banks said.
At the scene, deputies found Aaron Davis, a 19-year-old resident of the apartment complex, who had been shot in the right cheek, Banks said.
Davis was transported first to Greenwood Leflore Hospital and later to a hospital in Jackson.
Though no suspect had been arrested as of midday Thursday and the investigation is ongoing, Banks said there was most likely only one shooter.
Banks said Davis may have been picked out of a crowd: “There was more than him standing out there.”
Shootings have been a problem around Bishop, Banks said. “We try to make ourselves as visible as much as possible,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of cooperation from some of the people that live out there, and we really need that.”
Numerous people were out Wednesday night around the time Davis was shot, so someone had to have seen the shooting, Banks said.
He asked that anyone with information call his office at 453-5141. Tips would be kept confidential, he added.
In Greenwood, Charles Carter, who lives on the 1200 block of Mississippi Avenue, said he was asleep when he suddenly heard a “barrage” of gunshots around 1:46 a.m. Thursday, causing him to roll out of bed. He said his dog started barking. “My dog is paranoid when it comes to gunshots and firecrackers.”
A car was hit by the gunfire. The weapon “had to be an assault rifle,” Carter said.
Later Thursday, Carter came across a police officer who checked out the scene nearby on Alabama Street. He said the officer told him all of the shell casings from the weapon were collected overnight.
A male was injured in the shooting and admitted to the Greenwood hospital, Police Chief Jody Bradley said in an email. The victim, he said, has “non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.” Bradley did not give the victim’s name or age.
A suspect was taken into custody, the chief said, though no charges had been filed as of Thursday evening.
The previous shootings occurred last week.
On June 10, police responded to two separate shootings that occurred within 30 minutes of each other. One was reported around 9 p.m. in the area of Avenue H and McLaurin Street, and two gunshot victims had to be hospitalized.
Soon afterward, around 9:30 p.m., police responded to shots fired at the Curtis Moore Apartments along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Two more gunshot victims had to be hospitalized.
On Monday of this week, the police charged Kelvin Cooks, a 19-year-old Greenwood resident whose address was listed as Curtis Moore Apartments, with three counts of aggravated assault in connection with those two shootings.
The two deaths occurred Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a shooting at Curtis Moore Apartments.
Police came across two gunshot victims — 21-year-old Jyquavious Williams, who lived at the apartment complex, and 23-year-old Juan Robinson. It’s unclear if Robinson lived at the apartments.
Both men were transported to the Greenwood hospital, where Williams later died at 10:34 p.m.. Robinson was later taken to a hospital in Jackson.
Around noon Wednesday, police responded to a call about gunshots around the 300 block of Jackson Street, Bradley said in an email. At the scene they came across a victim, Valdemir Beverly, a 22-year-old male.
Beverly was transported by ambulance to the Greenwood hospital. Around 12:40 p.m., he was pronounced dead from gunshot wounds.
The deaths of Beverly and Williams increase Leflore County’s homicide count for 2020 to nine. All but one have been from gun violence.
It’s unclear if the shootings are related.
Bradley has said that the June 10 shootings in the area of Avenue H and McLaurin Street and Curtis Moore Apartments are believed to have been connected, but he did not elaborate.
When asked if the county’s recent shooting is connected to any of the incidents in Greenwood, Banks said that “it’s hard to tell” but then said he does not see a connection.
• Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
