Police rounded up four suspects accused in a drive-by shooting that left a 6-year-old boy dead and four others wounded as they played basketball in a McComb park on Sunday.
Malik Reed, 17, Bryan Cameron, 18, Yajari Jackson, 19, and Bryceon Thompson, 18, all face charges of capital murder and four counts of aggravated assault manifesting extreme indifference to human life.
They remained in the Pike County jail with no bond set on Monday. Police Chief Garland Ward said they had yet to appear before a judge.
“We arrested them all early this morning,” Ward said Monday, adding that Jackson surrendered while the others were arrested at their homes.
The chief said he brought in a second shift of officers to follow leads with detectives, insisting none of them would leave work until they had suspects in custody.
“With the help of the citizens of McComb we were able to identify suspects and at that point we picked them up,” Ward said, adding that police had the last of the four in custody by 4 a.m.
The shooting occurred just before 5 p.m. at Central Park when assailants opened fire from a black Dodge Charger that was headed east on Minnesota Avenue near the park’s basketball courts and playground.
The 6-year-old, Oterious Marks, died at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center. Another person wounded in the shooting was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center and was in critical condition.
The other victims were 23, 18 and 17 and 12, Ward said, adding that one of them was in critical condition as well. The other two had wounds that weren’t life-threatening and have been released from the hospital.
Ward said police found evidence of at least two guns being involved in the shooting, but he didn’t specify what caliber weapon was used.
Pike County Coroner Wally Jones said Marks appeared to have been shot in the abdomen with a large-caliber bullet.
And there’s some evidence that someone was shooting back at the car, Ward said, noting that the car had bullet holes, as did some houses across the street from the park. Police intend to file the same charges against anyone who was shooting at the car from the park, he said.
Ward said he drove by the park not long before the shooting on Sunday and saw a happy scene — children playing outside as their parents watched from park benches.
“There was a lot of people at the park,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of people out, parents out with their kids. It was a beautiful day.
“By the time I made it home I heard the shots,” he said. “And then a text message comes out.”
The next scene he saw was the opposite — the chaotic aftermath and shocking grief of violence.
“The senseless violence has got to stop,” Ward said. “We have to take our city back, and we are going to need the help of everybody.
“Any killing is a senseless killing, but for a 6-year-old who’s playing in the park and along with any other kids who’s playing in the park, this shouldn’t happen.”
Ward said it’s not surprising that the suspects are all under 20, as is the case with many of the shootings in the city.
Thompson, Cameron and Jackson are 2021 graduates of South Pike High School. Reed also attends South Pike and played on the football team this past season. Jackson played basketball with the Eagles. He was South Pike Junior High School’s Mr. Homecoming in 2018.
“Policemen, politicians and everybody need to get involved and we need to take our city back,” Ward said. “Speaking for the McComb Police Department, we are going to work and we’re going to take our city back. Parents have to get involved, because these parents know what their kids are doing.”
Ward grew up in McComb and moved back to the city to take the chief’s job a couple of years ago. He said he knew things had changed, but he hadn’t counted on the level of violence that officers in the department routinely see.
“I’ve never seen a group of kids that don’t value life and it hurts,” he said.
Ward said a lot of things have changed since his childhood, and McComb is a different place compared to back then.
“I know the city can’t go back to what it used to be, but we need to get damn close,” he said. “It’s just a sad day for our city.”
