Two adults are dead and two youths were critically injured following a pair of related wrecks Saturday night in Progress.
Pike County sheriff’s officials said the tragedies began when a 16-year-old boy riding a four-wheeler was crossing Pumping Station Road when a Dodge pickup truck driven by Alvin McElveen, 52, apparently struck him, Sheriff James Brumfield said.
McElveen allegedly fled the scene after the wreck. Deputies found him hours later at his home on Pumping Station Road and charged him with felony fleeing the scene of an accident.
Not long after the teen was struck, his relatives came to the scene got out of their vehicles to see what happened.
That’s when Paul Douglas Tate, 55, of 41192 Pumping Station Road, allegedly topped a hill in a GMC Yukon and struck the family, killing two people — a 14-year-old and a 31-year-old woman — and critically injured a 7-year-old girl.
The sheriff’s office declined to name the victims, citing concern for the family and an ongoing investigation.
Demetrius Gardner, 31, of Progress, was one of the victims, according to Craft Funeral Home, which is handling her arrangements, which are incomplete.
The 16-year-old and the 7-year-old were transported to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Charges are pending for Tate, who also was injured in the collision.
Dollar General robbery,
drive-by shooting reported
Deputies are investigating the armed robbery of the Dollar General on Highway 570 West.
A Black male with medium complexion held a clerk at gunpoint and took $500 in cash from the store before leaving around 9:30 p.m. Friday, sheriff’s officials said.
Deputies also are looking into a drive-by shooting that occurred at 3:12 a.m. Saturday at 1076 Oakdale Road. No one was injured, officials said.
Brumfield also noted a recent a rash of vehicle burglaries in the north end of the county, including areas around Dixie Springs and County Line Road.
Chief Deputy Brad Bellipanni said it is important that residents of the area watch out for suspicious activity and jot down tag numbers and descriptions of suspicious vehicles.
