Editor’s Note: This report has been updated from its original version.
STARKVILLE — A “focused attack” Sunday night involving gunfire outside the Sprint Mart at Highway 182 and Old Mayhew Road dealt minor injuries to two victims.
One woman associated with the shooting parties was grazed by gunfire and a male bystander sustained a minor injury from a ricochet, a Starkville Police Department press release issued Monday afternoon said. So far, three have been arrested in the shooting, and police say more arrests are expected.
Gunshots started at about 9:48 p.m., SPD Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady said. He told The Dispatch police believe “illegally modified Glock pistols” were used in the shooting. Certain modifications to those pistols can convert them to automatic weapons.
Coby Jones, 17, is charged with three counts of aggravated assault, according to an updated SPD press release issued Monday night. Both Jade Stallings, 22, and Aja Sherrod, 23, are charged with accessory after the fact.
Both press releases said the parties knew each other. Lovelady said there was no apparent damage to the Sprint Mart, other than an exterior ice machine that was hit.
Police have not released any further information on the shooting, including a description of other suspects or how many shots were fired.
Tristan Glass, who said he was at the Sprint Mart at the time, told The Dispatch he saw two Black men pulled into the parking lot in separate vehicles, got out, brandished firearms and started shooting each other, with no dispute beforehand.
“The parking lot was absolutely riddled with bullet casings,” Glass said. “(SPD) ran out of evidence markers twice and ended up having to handwrite and fold papers to make evidence markers for all the shrapnel and bullet casings.”
Nathan Hemphill, the male victim, told The Dispatch a ricocheting bullet hit his abdomen. He returned to work the next day, bruised, but otherwise unharmed.
“We were parked outside of the gas station for just a few minutes, when all of a sudden gunfire just erupted,” Hemphill said. “… We were just laughing and joking, and then just gunfire. … It was mass chaos.”
This is the second shooting reported at that Sprint Mart since April 1. In the previous incident, three teenagers were arrested after pulling into the parking lot and firing at each other. One of the teens was treated for a gunshot wound and arrested once he was released from OCH Regional Medical Center.
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