McComb police are investigating two different shootings that happened within about two hours of each other early Saturday morning that left one woman dead and four others injured, including a man who was shot in both incidents.
Police have arrested one person and are looking for another, Darnell Bright, 33.
Police Chief Garland Ward said the first shooting occurred at 2:04 a.m. at the entrance of the Ice House lounge as police were breaking up a fight in the parking lot.
Three people were injured in that incident — Johnell Granger, 28, Quardavion White, 20, and Travanda Haynes, 42.
They all suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, where they were treated and released.
A bullet grazed Granger’s head at the Ice House, Ward said. After he was released from the hospital, he was riding in a car when someone opened fire on it in the 400 block of Delaware Avenue.
He was shot in the head, as was the driver, Shamarkese D. Smith, 29, of McComb, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
A teenage girl who also was in the car was wounded and apparently unaware of her injury. She managed to walk to a nearby house and call police. Ward said officers arrived to find the teen holding a 5-month-old girl, who was covered in blood but unhurt.
“She stated that her mother was still in the car on Delaware,” Ward said.
Officers rounded the corner and found a white BMW crashed into a business and Smith slumped over the steering wheel, along with a wounded Granger.
Neither the teenage girl nor officers realized she had been shot at first, until they noticed that she was bleeding, Ward said
“She was actually shot in the head. The hospital didn’t know that until we did a CT scan,” he said. “She was talking to us. She was coherent.”
Granger’s brother, Johnny Granger, 30, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the first shooting at the Ice House, Ward said.
He said Johnny Granger isn’t accused of shooting his brother, but he’s one of at least two people who opened fire at the bar.
“We don’t know who shot who. We just know these two guys were shooting,” Ward said.
Johnny Granger was identified from the bar’s security camera footage and arrested later at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center while his brother was being treated, Ward said.
Police said Bright is wanted on three counts of aggravated assault in connection with the Ice house shooting.
The Delaware Avenue shooting remains under investigation.
The Saturday morning shootings capped a long two days for police, who worked another fatal shooting the night before. In that incident, 17-year-old McComb High School student Dominic McCoy was fatally shot on the corner of Burke and White streets just after midnight Friday.
Jessie Gray and Waynes Nobles III have been taken into custody in connection with that incident.
An exhausted Ward said he and detectives worked throughout both nights.
“To the citizens of McComb, I will always be transparent. I am sorry for the late response because I was out chasing leads with my guys in reference to the last two shootings that we have had,” he said. “I love this city, I love this community and I promise to do better in reporting in a timely manner.’
