U.S. Marshals on Thursday arrested a Starkville man in Memphis that allegedly participated in March’s Club Rock shooting.
Agents served an aggravated assault warrant on 21-year-old Tobias Coleman, Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Brett Watson confirmed Friday. The suspect was transported to Oktibbeha County Jail, where he remains incarcerated on a $100,000 bond.
Based upon witness interviews, investigators believe a crowd of approximately 1,000 people were gathered at Club Rock and on its property when at least 20 gunshots from three separate areas of the facility’s parking lot were fired March 30.
Coleman’s arrest, Watson said, pertains to the assault on one of the victims in the incident. Other arrests or charges are possible, but investigators would not go into specifics due to the nature of the ongoing investigation.
Four of the victims were treated and subsequently released from area hospitals after the shooting, but another, Zacharias Blanchard, was seriously injured when a bullet struck his head.
Deputies spent the days following the shooting canvassing the area for clues and interviewing witnesses, but the local community provided few leads and little insight into the incident.
OCSD utilized community chatter, or second-hand information, when witnesses failed to yield significant leads.
A temporary injunction against the Rock Hill Road club was granted after an affidavit filed by OCSD stated deputies received credible information that a retaliatory shooting was subsequently planned and ready to be carried out at the location.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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