Charges against the six people arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting that killed a 6-year-old boy and wounded four others have been reduced from capital murder to first-degree murder, with bond set for three of the suspects.
Bryan Cameron, 18, Yajari Jackson, 19, Bryceon Thompson, 18, and Malik Reed, 17, were arrested hours after the shooting and initially booked on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault.
Police accuse them of opening fire on the park from a car that was heading east on Minnesota Avenue.
Eric Spurlock Jr., 20, and Jakhyri Isaac, 17, who also was wounded in the leg in the shooting, were arrested on the same charges days later, with Isaac facing one less count of assault.
Police say the two allegedly fired back from the park.
Cameron, Jackson, Thompson and Reed appeared in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing, where their case was bound over to a grand jury.
A preliminary hearing for Spurlock and Isaac is scheduled for next week.
After initially being ordered held without bond, a judge set bond Wednesday for Reed, Thompson and Jackson, which was made possible with the reduced charges.
Reed was ordered held on $1 million bond — the maximum a judge can set. Thompson’s bond was set at $900,000 and Jackson’s at $950,000.
If released on bond, the suspects would have to undergo electronic monitoring and abide by an 8 p.m. curfew that only permits them to go to work or school. They already have been ordered to have no contact with the victims, the victims’ families or their co-defendants.
Cameron was denied bond because he was already out of jail on bond following his arrest in another drive-by shooting that occurred on the campus of Southwest Mississippi Community College on Sept. 9.
McComb Police Detective Sgt. Victoria Carter announced the new charges on Tuesday.
“After further investigation and consulting with the prosecutor for the city and the District Attorney, the suspects were all charged with first-degree murder,” Carter said in a news release.
Oterious Marks, a first-grader at Otken Elementary School, died after being caught in the crossfire. His 12-year-old brother Jody Ramee was grazed in the arm during the shooting.
The others who were wounded included Isaac, Vincent Wansley, 18, and Korey Wansley, 23.
Services for Marks were held Sunday at Pleasant Grove East McComb Baptist Church.
