The mother of a 17-year-old charged with manslaughter Monday says the shooting was accidental and she hopes the victim’s family will forgive her son.
Jacqueline Lucas said her son, Tyshun Lucas, 419 Ave. I, was friends with Antron McGee, 22.
According to police, Lucas, McGee and at least one other armed man were riding in McGee’s car late Sunday night when a shot went off through the back of the front driver’s seat. McGee died near 2:30 Monday morning from a single gunshot wound to his back.
Lucas and two others — Xavier Strong, 22, 704 Elm St., and Nicholas Walls, 17, 1000 McLean St. — accompanied McGee to Greenwood Leflore Hospital. Strong told detectives he had been standing at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Avenue E when two men he didn’t know asked him to help lift their friend. When they moved McGee to the passenger’s seat, Strong then drove them to the hospital, he said.
Officers were called to the hospital by security personnel who observed someone in the waiting room with something in his pockets. When an officer searched Lucas, he found several 9mm cartridges.
A 9mm weapon killed McGee, and officers recovered a black 9mm pistol from some bushes near the river.
Strong and Walls have been charged as accessories after the fact.
“They disposed of evidence in the case,” Police Chief Henry Purnell said. “They took this gun, and they threw it down by the Yazoo River.”
Tyshun Lucas is being held at the Leflore County Jail on $25,000 bond. If convicted, he would face between two and 20 years in prison.
Jacqueline Lucas said it “stuck his heart” for her son to see McGee’s family crying at the hospital.
“I’m sorry for their loss. From what my son was telling me, it was an accident. My condolences go out to them, and I wish they would forgive my son,” she said this morning.
She worked with McGee at Heartland Catfish and said her son often hung with him at Hayes Homes. She said there was an argument after a party Sunday night that resulted in a shooting. She said she has heard that those in McGee’s car were going to retaliate when McGee was accidentally shot.
She said Tyshun Lucas has been crying since the incident, and she is considering getting counseling for him. She also said she has received threatening calls since the fatal shooting.
Purnell said police are continuing to investigate and would interview the suspects further this morning.
“We’re trying to get to the bottom of it now and make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen anymore,” the chief said. “But it’s hard to stop gun-type violence.”
• Contact Charlie Smith at csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
