A Charleston man died Nov. 29 after being shot in the back in yet another display of gun violence on the city's Martin Luther King Drive.
Charleston Police Chief Jerry Williams II on Tuesday identified the victim as Willie C. White, 41, of Boclair Drive.
“It appeared he had one gunshot wound to the middle of his back,” Williams noted, adding that it seemed to be from a small-caliber weapon.
He said White’s body was transported by the coroner to the state crime lab in Pearl, where it awaits autopsy.
Police have identified a suspect, Williams said, but no arrest warrant had been issued as of Tuesday afternoon.
“We won’t release his name at this time,” the chief added, while describing the suspect as a male resident of Tallahatchie County in his 40s.
The shooting occurred just after 1 a.m. in the 300 block of King Drive near Shade Street, the chief noted.
According to witnesses, said to be friends of the victim who were at a nearby house, White was talking to his alleged assailant as both men stood in or near the street.
“Witnesses said they heard approximately three to four gunshots,” the chief explained, adding that one of White’s friends drove him to the Tallahatchie General Hospital ER, where he died a short time later.
Charleston Police Chief Jerry Williams II
Williams said police did not recover any evidence, including spent shell casings, from the scene.
“We have not located anything,” he noted, declining to cite a possible motive for the early-morning shooting.
The chief said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office are assisting in the ongoing investigation, but Williams is also seeking the public’s assistance.
“I do encourage anyone with any information, whether they think it’s big or small, to notify the Charleston Police Department, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation or the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office,” Williams said.
Last week’s shooting is the third that has occurred along a narrow corridor of King Drive in north central Charleston since February. Two people have been killed and two others injured. Three were struck while simply passing in an automobile.
On Feb. 26, a 16-year-old Marks female was shot once in the back while the vehicle in which she was a passenger was traveling southbound in a residential section of King between Dorothy and Shade streets. She died a short time later. At the time, Williams described the shooting as “a random act.” Less than two weeks later, a Scobey teen turned himself in and was charged with first-degree murder in the case.
On the night of Oct. 22, two Sumner men sustained gunshot wounds to the head and back while in a car traveling southbound on King Drive between Elizabeth and Dorothy streets. There are no suspects in the crime, and Williams admitted that investigators have “run into a dead end” in the case.
“We have made very little headway,” said the chief, while noting that lawmen have “knocked on every door down King Drive” during the course of their investigation but their efforts have gone unrewarded.
Williams said last week’s shooting is believed to be “unrelated” to the October crime, which generated little chatter on the streets.
“On this matter going on now, you’re hearing it [talked about] everywhere,” he noted. “There’s so much street talk on this deal, I just need somebody who can come forward and say ‘yes.’”
While noting that he does not believe the recent spate of King Drive shootings are drug- or gang-related, Williams admitted to being “curious about what’s going on there ... all within a block-and-a-half.”
Historically, King Drive, formerly North Pleasant Street, has been a relatively quiet residential neighborhood, the chief said.
“Back in the day, they used to throw bricks and stuff on Halloween, but that’s the most I ever heard happened on King Drive,” he noted.
Williams said he has been told by some motorists who used to commute along King Drive that they now try to avoid the street altogether and instead take a different route into and out of the city.
“It’s one of the main entrances to Charleston,” he said. “I don’t want that.”
Williams said he is working with Mayor Sedrick Smith Sr. and city officials to place new and brighter LED lighting along King Drive in an effort to deter nighttime criminal activity.
“We have several LED street lights up, but there are more street lights coming.”
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Anyone who has any information that they would like to share with law enforcement may call Williams directly on his city cellphone at 662-375-2983, the Charleston Police Department at 662-647-5841, or the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office at 662-647-3700.
