The Clarksdale Police Department has announced an arrest in the death of Darryl Marion earlier this month.
Allen Collins was arrested Wednesday, Oct. 21, and Clarksdale Police Chief Sandra Williams said he has been charged with murder in connection to Marion’s death.
Marion, 43, was found deceased on Oct. 12, by a relative who came to visit him at his home in the 500 block of Prince Street. Marion had been shot in the head and the nature of the crime prompted police to treat it as a homicide investigation.
Clarksdale Police detectives were assisted in their investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Collins has received his initial appearance in Clarksdale Municipal Court in front of Judge Derek Hopson. Collins had the charges against him read and Judge Hopson denied bail.
Collins was placed in the Coahoma County Jail to await his day in court.
Marion’s death was Clarkdale’s sixth homicide this year.
Clarksdale’s fifth homicide saw police respond to 729 Riley Street at 2:25 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27 on reports of a man being shot and found Tommy Lindsey with a gunshot wound to the head.
Lindsey’s niece, Shuntaye Johnson was taken into custody and the weapon believed to be used in the shooting was recovered at the scene.
Police were called to Sunflower Avenue and 13th Street about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday Sept. 1, on a report of a man lying in the street.
Police found Larry Levell Mitchell, 29, face down in the street with a gunshot wound to the back. Coahoma County Deputy Coroner Mack Harris pronounced Mitchell dead at the scene and no one has been charged in this case.
The community recorded its third homicide for 2020 with the death of a local man on May 28. Police were called to the 100 block of 17th Street about 11:45 p.m. that Thursday after a citizen called saying a man was lying in the street and had been shot.
Officers found Glynn Busby, 50, of Clarksdale, at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head and police later arrested Aurthor Young, 64, in connection with the shooting.
Clarksdale’s second murder this year saw a 25-year old shot in an alley in west Clarksdale April 22 and two arrested in connection with that crime.
Police were called to the 600 block of Catalpa Street about 11 a.m. in reference to a shooting and found, Robert Johnson, a black male, suffering a severe gunshot wound.
Johnson was immediately transferred to Merit Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
On Saturday April 25, Maurice Calhoun turned himself in to Clarksdale Police. On April 27, police arrested Trevarius Smith, 26, in the 200 block of West Second Street. Both men were charged with the murder of Johnson.
Clarksdale’s first homicide of 2020 saw Brunley McDowell formally charged in January with the stabbing death of her husband following an incident at her home. Clarksdale police responded to a call of a man deceased on a front porch in the 1400 block of Herrin Street Monday morning Jan. 6 and while there were no initial signs of trauma, a later examination by Coahoma County Coroner Sonny Meredith determined the man died violently.
Clarksdale recorded 12 murders in 2018 and churches and neighborhoods joined with police to stop the violence and help authorities. Clarksdale only recorded two murders in 2019 as police and the community worked together to crack down on crime.
