Over one hundred spent and live bullets riddled the area near the corner of Second Street and Church Street in Indianola early on Sunday morning.
Three 19-year-old men were dead, and over a dozen others were injured in one of the worst shooting events in Indianola’s history. This marked the city’s second triple homicide of 2024.
Sunflower County has had 11 homicides this year already, according to Coroner Heather Burton.
“This is more than any year in history,” Burton said. “No amount of training I have done has prepared me emotionally to handle multiple casualty scenes. This emotionally affects not only the victims’ families, but law enforcement, medical responders, and the community.”
Shequite Johnson has been active in the Indianola community for years, volunteering with numerous organizations like the Girl Scouts and the Parent Teacher Association.
She told The E-T this week that her son, who is 18, was out last Saturday night and had asked to stay out later than usual.
“I kept saying no,” Johnson said, adding that she felt uneasy about her son being out that night. “By the time he texted me the last time, I said, ‘When I tell you a time, I mean that time.’”
Johnson said that she was crying at 4 a.m. on Sunday when she woke her son and daughter to tell them about the shooting.
Johnson said that parents should not be afraid to tell their children no when it comes to keeping them safe.
“We are not our children’s friends,” she said, admitting that for a moment last Saturday, she almost gave in to her son’s request. “I almost said, ‘Okay.’”
The shooting was so heinous that it quickly made national headlines.
Nicole Hockley, co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise issued a statement about the Indianola massacre this week.
“Our hearts are broken for the families shattered by this senseless tragedy in Indianola, and for all of the injured victims that now must endure the pain of recovery,” Hockley said. “Instead of returning home safely after a night out, three young lives were destroyed by gun violence that should have been prevented. No family should ever have to go through this. We offer our deepest condolences to the victims, their loved ones, and the entire community grappling with this unimaginable loss.”
The Mississippi Chapters of Moms Demand Action & Students Demand Action also addressed the Indianola shooting.
“Make no mistake: Gun violence in America is entirely preventable. But despite my generation literally dying in our classrooms, homes, and on a night out, our politicians have chosen a path of inaction,” said Valencia Green, a student at Jackson State University and volunteer leader with the Mississippi Chapter of Students Demand Action. “We’re being forced to normalize living in constant fear of gunfire ringing out, but the truth is, this isn’t normal. When shootings happen, we need more than ‘thoughts and prayers,’ we need action to keep us safe.”
Indianola has since declared a state of emergency and has issued a midnight curfew.
Mayor Ken Featherstone said during Monday night’s board meeting that he could not do as much as he would like to when it comes to cracking down on guns.
“There are too many guns in this country,” the former law enforcement officer said.
He told a crowded board room that he would like to ban guns in the city’s entertainment district, something he said is not allowed under the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Hockley made the case that Mississippi gun laws are weak and need to be changed.
“Guns are currently the leading cause of death for young people in Mississippi,” she said. “In 2021, the state had the highest firearm death rate in the U.S for all ages. Mississippi lacks critical gun safety laws including enhanced background checks, secure storage, restrictions on certain semi-automatic rifles, and temporary transfer measures. These laws, as well as our school-based violence prevention programs, have been proven to prevent gun violence.”
Sunflower County Consolidated School District Superintendent Dr. Miskia Davis said that she is hopeful that effective action is taken by local elected officials to restore peace to a city and county that has witnessed several shootings and deaths in the last several months.
“We continue to pray for the leaders and elected officials of this great county as they prayerfully align their efforts and resources to restore peace and remove fear from the citizens who deserve a much better quality of life than the past several months have provided,” Davis said in an email statement to The E-T. “We are better than this!!!”
Coroner Burton, who has seen the aftermath of most of the county’s fatal shootings in the last several years, said that it is time for parents and the community to rise to the occasion to improve the culture here.
“Everyone is quick to blame police and local leaders for the violence; however, this is a community problem,” Burton said. “The police are understaffed and out-gunned against the weapons used in these crimes. The community, as a whole, needs to stand up against this. If you see something, say something. Police can’t be everywhere at all times.”
Burton said that it is important for parents to know where their children are and who they are hanging with.
“Talk to your children, watch what they are doing,” she said. “Most of you are on social media, look at their accounts. If they are holding up gang signs and posting pictures with guns (especially assault weapons and modified magazine weapons), drugs, alcohol, etc. talk to them. If they have these types of weapons, they are not for protection. Everything starts at home. My children are adults, but I am still their parent, and I still am diligent to ensure their safety. I pray daily for the violence to stop and for the posterity of Sunflower County and our nation as a whole.”
