Clarksdale Police Chief Robbie Linley said the 19th Annual Juke Joint Festival was one of the smoothest ever, until the last 15 minutes.
Three people were shot as the 2022 Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale’s premier Blues event, as it came to a close at about 10:45 p.m. Saturday. The shooting took place near the intersection of Yazoo and Third Street.
“There was a disturbance in the area and our officers responded and broke it up,” said Linley. “Then they came back together in another area and shots were fired.”
Linley said three local people were injured by gunfire. Two males were grazed by bullets and treated locally, with a female victim requiring the removal of a bullet and being sent to The Med in Memphis. The female was released Monday.
Linley said there had been no arrests as of Tuesday, but authorities do have persons of interest and continue to collect evidence and take statements.
“Our officers were on top of the initial incident and we are also looking at Skycop (photos) to determine who was involved,” said Linley. “I don’t want to say how many we are looking for other than we have multiple suspects at this time.”
Linley said both the Clarksdale Police Department and the Coahoma County Sheriff Department had extra security in place Saturday night and “this was one of the smoothest Juke Joints I had ever worked.”
“We had a good turnout, the weather was great and people seemed to be having a good time,” he added. “This was a black eye on a good Juke Joint Festival.”
Linley said Tuesday, he does not think the shooting is related to the death of a man found shot in a Jonestown Park early Saturday morning.
A statement issued by the Coahoma County Sheriff’s Department said 911 was called at about 4:15 a.m. Saturday by a person located near the park off of Main Street in Jonestown.
When officers responded they found a black male dead from a gunshot. The man was later identified at Tremaine Hunter, 38.
The Sheriff’s office is asking anyone with information about the Jonestown incident to call them at 662-624-2411 or 662-624-3085.
The Clarksdale Police Department has asked anyone with information about the shooting at Juke Joint to call them at 662-621-8151.
