One of the gunmen accused in Sunday’s drive-by shooting that left a 6-year-old boy dead and four others wounded was out on bond, having been charged in another drive-by shooting last year.
Bryan Cameron, 18, was charged last Sept. 14 for allegedly shooting into a car on the campus of Southwest Mississippi Community College on Sept. 9.
Sheriff’s officials said then that they searched his house and found a gun inside his room that is believed to have been used in the shooting at SMCC, as well as marijuana.
He was charged with drive-by shooting, conspiracy, two counts of shooting into a motor vehicle, possession of a weapon on a school campus and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, enhanced by possession of a firearm.
Along with Cameron, Yajari Jackson, 19, Bryceon Thompson, 18, and Malik Reed, 17, were arrested hours after the shooting and booked on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault. A judge ordered them held without bond during a court hearing Tuesday.
Hours after the hearing, the parents of 6-year-old Oterious Marks, killed by a shot to the abdomen Sunday, pleaded for an end to gun violence.
During a rally Tuesday at McComb City Hall, just three blocks away from the playground at Central Park where their son died, they expressed their anguish over having to bury their son .
“Please, please, please think about my son the next time you want to go shoot someone,” Marks’ mother Kyoukius Washington said. “I’ve got to bury my 6-year-old son.”
Her 12-year-old son, Jody Ramee, was grazed by a bullet in his left arm during the shooting that left three others wounded, including two critically. The other victims were 23, 18 and 17. Police Chief Garland Ward said Tuesday that the two who were in critical condition were improving.
“One of my sons got shot and one of my sons is dead,” Washington said.
Washington said she couldn’t believe something like this would happen at Central Park.
“I’ve got good boys. If they ask, ‘Momma, can we go to the park and play?’ ” she said. “I got out and I took them to the park to play on a Sunday. I never imagined that I wouldn’t bring my baby back from that park.”
Marks’ father, Terrance Marks, cried as he remembered his first-born son.
“He was loving,” he said. “He was caring. He was everybody’s friend. He just wanted to go to the park and play and we just wanted to be able to let our kids do that. We can’t do it when we’ve got nonsense going on in this world.
“It’s unfair. No parent should have to bury their child. They should be burying us. I can’t explain how I feel, how we feel. He was my first born, my only son and he’s gone for no reason.”
Police Chief Garland Ward said detectives are still piecing together details in the case. He said no motive has been established and detectives are working to determine what role each suspect played in the shooting.
He said evidence from the scene indicates someone shot back from the park, and that person would face the same charges as the four others.
Selectman Devante Johnson organized the rally in front of city hall.
“We pray and we go back to our respective destinations and families, and they are left with the burden of losing their loved one,” he said. “When this event is over and when you’ve gone home back to the comfort of your home, what about this family we’re joined with today?”
After the event, Johnson said he wants to put together a committee of community groups and civic organizations to bring ideas to the table on how to end gun violence.
“It’s an ongoing effort,” he said. “Nobody has all the answers tonight, but tonight was a great show of unity of what our community looks like, both Black and White, non-believers and believers to say we want to take our streets back. That’s what tonight was about, gathering in unity and giving the family a time to speak and pray for this family.”
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley urged the community to unite against gun violence and said it was a problem in all of Pike County.
“When it comes to gun violence here in the city of McComb, understand the chief of police, Chief Garland Ward and I have told you time and time again the majority of gun violence happening here in the city of McComb happens with children age 15 to 25,” he said.
“Not only that, but also that data from our police department clearly indicates that 65% of the gun violence happening here in the city of McComb happens by people who come from outside the city limits into the city of McComb.”
Pastors Gary Brumfield and Hilton Harrell led prayers and provided words of encouragement.
“Tonight, God, we ask for a shift in our city that you would turn out hearts back to you, you would turn our motives back to you,” Brumfield said. “God, we pray right now that you would humble us, that we might seek your face. We want to hear from heaven that you might heal our land.”
Harrell said the word community ends in “unity” and the community needs to strive for that.
“Even though we hurt, we can talk today, we talk, the hurt of this mom will never stop,” he said. “She lost a child. When we think about it, when we talk about community, it hurts all of us.”
Harrell said the hurt extends to law enforcement, first responders, morticians, pastors, community, educators and others.
