Clarksdale appeared to get back to normal this week after 19 people were shot over three days in May.
Neither Clarksdale City Police nor the Coahoma County Sheriff’s Department has announced an arrest for shooting anyone in a series of gun crimes that started Sunday morning May 21, in the 300 block of Delta Avenue and then spread across the community.
Four people were also shot in Jonestown Monday morning May 22, and is not known if that shooting was related to the Clarksdale shooting.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has also not announced charges or an arrest in the shooting death of a 15-year-old male by a former Clarksdale Police Department officer on Monday afternoon May 22.
Police have said the shootings in Clarksdale appear to be gang related. Authorities have also said they believe people out of Tunica County were involved in the shootings.
Eighteen people were shot in four incidents in Clarksdale and Coahoma County over the weekend in the city’s worst shooting spree, but at this time there are no fatalities.
The fifth shooting Monday afternoon on West Second Street in Clarksdale resulted in the death of a teenager. Again, that case is being investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
The shootings on Delta Avenue started about 2:45 a.m. Sunday, with two groups firing at each other and more than a dozen people carried to local hospitals, the second shooting occurred on West Second Street a short time later and the third shooting that morning occurred in the parking lot of B-Quick on Friars Point Road, where one person was hit by gunfire.
A shooting in Jonestown Monday morning reported four people hurt. It is not known if that shooting is related to the Clarksdale shootings.
Clarksdale Police Chief Robbie Linley said his department was contacted by a citizen at the scene of the initial shooting.
Linley said 12 people were shot in the Delta Avenue shooting: Six females and six males.
A person was also shot in an apparent drive-by shooting on East Second Street that occurred in front of the Clarksdale Press Register around 3:10 a.m. Police are looking for a white Dodge Charger that is believed to be involved in that shooting.
Delta Avenue does have SkyCop cameras, but those images apparently don’t show enough to allow police to identify people, cars or other details needed to make an arrest.
Memphis TV stations played images of cars leaving the scene and a private video of someone shooting outside the window of a Delta Avenue business.
There was a fourth shooting incident where someone drove past the Clarksdale hospital and fired a gun hitting the building. Linley said no one was struck in that shooting.
“We are asking for the community’s help,” said Linley. “People know things and saw things happen that will help us identify the people responsible for this.”
The Clarksdale Police Department can be reached at 662-621-8152 and information can be given anonymously.
Linley said police have not determined a definite motive, but said it appeared to be two heavily armed groups.
“Brickyard Day was earlier that day and we have been told people had gone to Delta (Avenue), since nothing was open, because they might start serving food,” said Linley. “The shooting was back and forth and this was not a drive-by shooting.”
Linley said there was also some kind of altercation at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium, which was rented out by the city, at a rap music event. Linley said security at that event stopped the altercation
Linley said police picked up many spent shell casings – from both pistols and rifles – at the scene of the Delta Avenue shooting. Linley said the Friar’s Point Road also saw multiple shell casings found.
Police do believe the three shooting incidents in Clarksdale are related.
