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LEXINGTON, Miss. (BFMG) — Three people were killed and eight others injured early Saturday in a shooting at a party celebrating a local football team’s victory, according to Holmes County Sheriff Willie March.
The victims included two 19-year-olds and a 25-year-old, with at least two shooters involved, according to The Associated Press. The injured were airlifted to a hospital for treatment.
The shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m. ET along a trail outside Lexington, March told CNN. Emergency responders arrived within 15 minutes, but the scene was chaotic.
“Chaos. People running, people crying… it was chaos because of the large number of people that were there,” March said.
Approximately 200 to 300 people attended the party, which followed the Holmes County Consolidated School’s homecoming football game, the AP reported. Sheriff March emphasized that the school was not responsible for the gathering.
“Three or four hours after the game ended, people decided to go to the trail ride to have a party,” March explained. “The school had nothing to do with it at all. They didn’t put it on, they didn’t participate in it.”
March said investigators are still working to determine a motive for the shooting.
“We’re asking questions, but everyone’s saying they didn’t see an incident or squabble or anything,” March told CNN. “We’re trying to find a motive ourselves.”
Joe Johnson, co-owner of the land where the shooting occurred, told WAPT the property had been rented for the event, which was scheduled to end shortly before the gunfire erupted.
“We had 30 minutes to go, and I was about to comment, ‘It won’t be long,’ and that’s when I heard the shots going off,” Johnson said.
He described the gunfire as sounding “like a machine gun” and said previous events at the location had confiscated weapons.
“You’ve got so much innocent blood that’s being shed—that’s what hurts me,” Johnson, an ordained minister, told WAPT. “I’d just like to talk to our young people and tell them to love one another.”
Johnson said his nephew was among the injured, and his sons were also at the event but were unharmed. “It was just the goodness of God that they didn’t get shot up,” he added.
The Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident involving four or more people injured or killed, excluding the shooter, reports at least 422 mass shootings have occurred in the U.S. this year.
The shooting in Lexington follows a similar incident on Oct. 12 near Tennessee State University in Nashville, where one person was killed and nine others injured during a gathering after the university’s homecoming celebration. Police described the event as a “sidebar” celebration not officially connected to the university.
Authorities in Holmes County are continuing their investigation and seeking information from witnesses.
Johnson says every event always has security, including this one.
“We have security. Sometimes they confiscate weapons and stop and prevent it, but for some reason, this time they got in with them,’ he said.
The sheriff identified the three victims killed as 25-year-old Martel Gibson, 19-year-old Shundra Chestnut, and 19-year-old John Jenkins.
Deputies say several other victims had to be airlifted to a hospital in Jackson.
Johnson says among those shot is his nephew.
“My sons were there, and it’s just the goodness of god they didn’t get shot up, my nephew’s in the hospital now,” he said.
Johnson says the field has always been a safe place.
According to the sheriff, there are no suspects at this time. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations is assisting in the case.
Victims later returned to the Indian Creek Trail, where crime tape surrounded the devastating scene according to WAPT.
“You got so much innocent blood that’s being (shed), and that’s what hurts me,” said Joe Johnson, a co-owner of the property.
