One of the suspects accused in the February drive-by shooting at a McComb park that killed a 6-year-old boy is one of four people accused of attempting to rob a Brookhaven man Monday evening and then shooting at the victim as he chased them down Interstate 55.
The Brookhaven Daily Leader reported that Malik Reed, 17, of 1039 Beck St., McComb, and three others allegedly pulled up to the unidentified victim’s house in a car and asked to use a phone at 7:47 p.m.
The victim and one of the suspects began to tussle over a firearm, then the four suspects fled and the victim gave chase, Det. Capt. Clint Earls told the newspaper.
The suspects started shooting at the victim as he pursued them south on Interstate 55, and state troopers joined in the chase before apprehending the suspects in Pike County.
In addition to Reed, the others arrested were Le’Cameron Armon Reynolds, 19, Nicholes Arroy Battiste Jr., 21, and Roderick Donnietello Barnes Jr., 25, all of Magnolia.
Reed is one of seven people who are facing charges in connection with the Feb. 20 drive-by shooting at what was then known as Central Park in McComb.
Oterious Marks, 6, for whom the park soon was renamed, was caught in the crossfire and died on the park’s basketball court. Two others were wounded in the melee.
Reed was one of four people who police said were riding in a car and opened fire as it passed by the park on Minnesota Avenue. Police have charged them and three others who were in the park and believed to have fired back at the car.
McComb Police Detective John Glapion testified in a bond hearing in March that Reed and Bryan Cameron, 18, opened fire on the park from the car. He said Reed was sitting in the rear passenger seat of a Dodge Challenger, and Cameron was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Reed was initially charged with first-degree murder in the park shooting before a judge reduced charges for all of the suspects from capital murder to first-degree murder.
He had been held on $1 million bond, the maximum allowed. He would have had to pay 10% — $100,000 — in order to be released from jail.
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, 2021.
The broad daylight park shooting changed the perception of crime in McComb. While gun violence certainly is nothing new to the city, the randomness of a child being killed while playing in a park made it different than other shootings, many committed late at night and with intended targets.
The shooting led to renewed discussions among residents and local officials about juvenile crime in the area and the lack of a juvenile detention facility in the area.
