Randall Wanzo lost his son Austin on Father’s Day 2020, when Austin was shot in the back while sitting in his car.
Randall learned Monday — his birthday — that a grand jury has declined to indict the man charged in the shooting more than two long years ago.
Lacurtis Hackett, 20, of 1020 Jeanette Lane, Summit, was initially charged of manslaughter in the June 21, 2020, shooting death of Austin D. Wanzo before those charges were upgraded to murder.
Wanzo was shot at the corner of Summit Street and Moore Avenue in McComb around 12:30 a.m.
Hackett told police he dropped the Springfield XD .45ACP semi-automatic handgun he was handling and it discharged, fatally striking Wanzo, according to reports of the shooting at the time. In upgrading the charges, detectives said they didn’t buy the accidental shooting claim, citing redundant safeties in that model handgun that would have made such a scenario unlikely.
Wanzo’s parents, Randall and Karen Wanzo, told the Enterprise-Journal they received a call from the District Attorney’s office on Monday and learned that Hackett would not be indicted.
Randall and Karen Wanzo met with Assistant District Attorney Robert Byrd, along with McComb Police Chief Garland Ward, Deputy Chief Delre Smith and others at the DA’s office in Magnolia on Tuesday morning looking for answers.
“We really didn’t get far with it,” Randall Wanzo said after the meeting. “It’s just basically the same. It’s an ongoing investigation. That’s it.”
Byrd confirmed the investigation was continuing but the DA’s office declined to offer further comment.
“Our office is always willing to do whatever we can with the evidence presented to us,” he said.
Ward said he’s unsure if the grand jury only considered the murder charge or if they considered the lesser charge of manslaughter.
“I don’t know. I can’t answer that,” he said. “We’re going to continue to investigate the case," he said.
Randall Wanzo called for action from the community and said he would “just keep praying that something will come up to show that my son was murdered.”
The Wanzos said they believe someone who knows something about their son’s death is not coming forward with the information.
“It can come up by the community telling what they’ve seen,” Randall Wanzo said of information about the case. “The community should tell what they’ve seen so we can stop all these murders around here and stop breaking these families up by different murders.”
Randall Wanzo said Ward and Smith sat in on the meeting in the DA’s office. He said he did not know what the next step in solving his son’s death would be at this time.
“We don’t really know right now what we’re going to do, to be honest with you, but we’re going to, hopefully, try to get the case back up at some period of time,” he said.
Randall Wanzo encouraged anyone with information about his son’s death to contact the McComb Crimestoppers at 601-684-0033 or the police department at 601-684-3214.
