Itta Bena was hit by a crime wave over the weekend, but no one had been charged as of this morning.
“You can’t imagine how busy we’ve been,” Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks said.
The wave of violence reached its peak with the Sunday night shooting death of Knicholas Bradley, 17, 300 County Road 362, Apt. A-1. Bradley’s death is the first homicide in Leflore County this year.
Bradley was seated in a chair in a residence at 201 Rainey Alley at about 10:45 p.m. Sunday when shots were fired into the home. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives are still interviewing witnesses, and affidavits still have not been formally filed against five people who are in custody. An additional two suspects may have already left the state, Banks said.
Two men also were hospitalized at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson after a shootout shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday outside the H&H Club on Martin Luther King Drive.
Claude James, who received a gunshot wound to his neck, was airlifted to UMMC and was listed in guarded condition Monday. James was not listed on the public directory at UMMC this morning.
Devontae McGee had wounds to his leg and hip. He was taken by ambulance to UMMC, Banks said. McGee was listed in stable condition Monday. His condition could not be confirmed this morning.
According to Banks, the weekend’s first incident happened at around 9:35 p.m. Saturday, when a victim reported he had been assaulted by three people on Douglas Street in Itta Bena.
He received injuries to his right eye and face. He was taken to Greenwood Leflore Hospital, treated and released.
At around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, a complainant stated that the three people involved in the earlier assault on Douglas Street threatened to shoot her residence up and do her harm, according to the department’s incident report.
Also, at about 2:15 a.m. Monday, deputies were called to 224 Lincoln St. in Itta Bena regarding shots being fired into the residence. In an addition, an incendiary device was thrown against the residence in an unsuccessful attempt to burn it down.
Banks said a number of spent cartridge cases were recovered outside the residence.
Asked if the incidents were the result of a possible gang rivalry, he replied, “There are factions, no doubt.”
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
