NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County officials expressed sorrow and helplessness about this past weekend’s deadly shootouts at a Natchez grocery store and bar that resulted in three fatalities.
While meeting Monday, Adams County supervisors, Sheriff Travis Patten and others acknowledged the separate incidents of violence that have stirred up the community.
“It’s tragic. It needs to stop,” said Tim Houghton, who manages the county’s ambulance service. “Nobody can fix it except the people who are taking these actions.”
Two shooters are charged with murders that Sheriff Travis Patten noted are hard to prevent when people are determined to kill their targeted victims. “They made a conscious decision to be part of what they were a part of,” he said.
The separate killings Saturday and Sunday do not indicate that a rising homicidal crime wave is sweeping Natchez-Adams County, Patten said. “That’s not the community that we are,” he said. “It’s not Natchez.”
Houghton noted Adams County’s ambulance service – AMR – responded to 12 assaults in June, which is up from the monthly average of three.
Prompted by the weekend shootings, county Supervisor Ricky Gray proposed the Board of Supervisors ban weapons from the Adams County administrative office building except for gunholders authorized to carry. However, with Mississippi law allowing people to freely carry guns in most public places, board attorney Scott Slover said he’ll research the legality of such a restriction.
In response to Saturday’s predawn shootout at the bar on Lower Woodville Road, Supervisor Wes Middleton suggested county officials consider imposing a curfew to mandate when such nightspots must be closed.
After the July 4 early-morning gunfight that erupted at JROC bar, Jaquavious Norman was arrested and charged with killing Michael Minor Jr. after Minor allegedly shot and killed Randolph Hannon in an argument over a dice game, according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
After the July 5 early-evening incident at Southside Market, Natchez police arrested store employee Jamien Myles and charged him with killing Kenerick Wimley during an altercation at the Seargent Prentiss Drive grocery.
While three other people were injured in the two shootings, Patten noted more could’ve been – particularly at the busy grocery store. “I’m glad no innocent bystanders were hit,” he said.
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