4 dead in shooting that injured others after homecoming football game in Mississippi, official says

LELAND, Miss. (AP) — Four people were killed in a shooting in a small town in the Mississippi Delta region after a high school football homecoming game there, a state senator said Saturday.

The shootings happened occurred in the downtown area of the small town of Leland, Mississippi, where people had gathered following the game, said Mississippi state Sen. Derrick Simmons, who represents people in that region.

Four other victims who were among about 20 people injured in the shooting were taken to a hospital in Greenville and then flown to a larger hospital in the state capital city of Jackson, where they were in critical condition, Simmons told The Associated Press.

Simmons said he was confident the information is correct because he received updates from authorities with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating, as well as from other law enforcement authorities.

“People were just congregating and having a good time in the downtown of Leland,” Simmons said of the town with a population of fewer than 4,000 people.

He was told that after the gunfire, the scene was “very chaotic,” as police, sheriff’s deputies and ambulances “responded from all over.”

“It’s just senseless gun violence,” he said. “What we are experiencing now is just a proliferation of guns just being in circulation.”

No arrests have been announced, and Simmons said late Saturday morning that he had not heard any information about possible suspects.

“They are on the ground working and I have all the faith in the world that they will get to the bottom of this,” he said.

“As the state senator for the area, we are asking any and all individuals who might have any information regarding the horrific shooting last night to come forward and provide whatever information they have,” he added.