Six Killed in Separate Mississippi Shootings

Four of those killed were killed after a high school football game played in downtown Leland in the Mississippi Delta region at the state’s western tip, a state senator said Saturday.

State Senator Derrick Simmons said that about 20 people were injured in the shooting that opened after people gathered in downtown Leland after the game. Four of the 20 injured were in critical condition and were taken from a hospital near Greenville to a larger medical center in Jackson, the state capital, Simmons told The Associated Press.

Simmons said he has been kept informed of developments from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office as well as other law enforcement officials in Delta.

“People were just getting together and having a good time in downtown Leland,” Simmons said of the town, which has a population of less than 4,000.

He was told that the scene was “very chaotic” after the gunshots were fired, with police, sheriff’s deputies and ambulances “responding from everywhere.”

“This is just senseless gun violence,” he said. “What we are experiencing now is nothing more than the proliferation of weapons in circulation.”

No arrests have been announced, and Simmons said he had not heard any information about possible suspects as of late Saturday morning.

“They are working in the field and I have full confidence that they will get to the end of this,” he said.

“As the district’s state senator, we are asking anyone with information about last night’s horrific attack to come forward and provide any information they have,” he added.

Meanwhile, police in the small eastern Mississippi town of Heidelberg in the state are investigating a shooting that left two people dead during that community’s homecoming weekend.

Both were killed on the school campus Friday night, Heidelberg Police Chief Cornell White said. He declined to say whether the victims were students or any other information about the crimes.

“It’s still a general thing right now, but I can’t give specifics,” White said Saturday morning.

In a statement from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, it was stated that an 18-year-old man was wanted for questioning in the Heidelberg attack. The sheriff asked anyone with information to contact the police chief or sheriff’s office.

The shooting in Heidelberg occurred Friday night on the school campus where the Heidelberg Oilers were playing their homecoming football game. The town of about 640 people is about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southeast of the state capital, Jackson.

It is not yet known exactly when the gunshots occurred and how close they were to the stadium. White said he investigated the scene on Saturday and more information could be released in the coming days.