A phone call last Monday was unusual, to put it mildly: Charges were going to be dropped against two teenagers in the shooting death of a McComb 14-year-old.
That rarely happens, especially at the speed it did in this case. The pair were arrested on Thursday, Feb. 19. They were arraigned as adults the next day. And then on Tuesday, Feb. 24, the charges were dismissed.
The obvious question is, how did the evidence change so quickly? McComb police can provide more details if they wish, but at the Tuesday hearing, the city prosecutor said the witness whose information led to the arrests was not sure that what he first told detectives was accurate.
I covered both hearings, and took the pictures of the handcuffed suspects outside the courtroom that appeared on our website and in the Feb. 21 newspaper.
I heard some criticism about the pictures, and was ready to explain my decisions to anyone at the hearing who asked on Tuesday.
But no one did. I guess if my relative was a defendant, I would be more focused on getting him released than asking somebody from the newspaper about his reporting.
Still, the topic is a fair question. So here’s what I would have said.
First, even though the two suspects were minors, state law automatically moved their cases out of youth court because of the nature of the crime. Covering the hearings and taking pictures is legitimate news. When a 14-year-old is gunned down on a Sunday afternoon, I think we need more coverage of the case, not less.
After Brewer said the teens should be released, I went back to the two stories about the arrests on the website and deleted the "perp walk" photos. They were no longer accurate pictures. I also put a note at the top of each story that the charges had been dropped.
The police trusted some inaccurate information, or perhaps moved too early in making the arrests. Deciding to drop the charges had to be embarrassing.
The Feb. 20 hearing included a police affidavit, which describes the evidence in a case, that identified one of the suspects as a gunman. But over the weekend that evidence disappeared. Wow.
As far as reporting the news is concerned, the two teens were indeed arrested and held in jail. What I reported from both hearings was what happened. And when the information changed — when the police admitted a lack of evidence and the charges got dropped — I reported that as well.
This story brought a couple of things to my mind.
First, while any suspect should be freed if there is not enough evidence to hold them, this means the broad-daylight killing of KeJaylen Cook remains unsolved.
If it’s true that, as the judge said at the first hearing, that there is some “beefing” going on between teenagers from McComb and Magnolia, then there cannot be a whole lot of boys involved.
Are we seriously to think that large percentages of the McComb and South Pike student bodies are armed and dangerous? I think that greatly overstates Pike County’s and McComb’s gun problem.
I think maybe 10 or 15 boys from each school are willing gunmen, ready to fire at people. This means there’s a fairly small list of suspects. At some point, someone will give police information about the shooting that can stand up in court.
Second thing: If natural rivalries are causing this problem, what can we do about it? One idea is to stop things that contribute to the rivalry.
An obvious question: Are McComb vs. South Pike athletic events a factor? Remember, a fight broke out in the McComb gym during the last game against South Pike.
Maybe the two schools should limit attendance when they play each other. Or maybe they shouldn’t play at all for a while.
Not playing is an extreme idea that I don’t advocate. On the other hand, nothing will change unless something big is done. Somebody killed KeJaylen Cook, and stopping crimes like that must be the priority.
