In a shooting instance in Mississippi, a suspect was taken to custody Saturday after six people were killed in eastern Mississippi. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said in a Facebook post that “multiple innocent lives” were lost “due to violence” in the town of West Point, near the Alabama border.
The sheriff told WTVA that six people were killed at three different locations. A suspect was in custody and there was no threat to the community, he said.
“I ask that you lift our victims and their families in your prayers Law Enforcement is busy investigating and will release an update as soon as possible,” the sheriff wrote on Facebook. The sheriff’s office did not share more details early Saturday but said a morning news conference was planned.
State under scrutiny after recent gun violence
Mississippi has been under scrutiny due to several shooting incidents over the past year, including police-involved shootings. The latest violence has again brought attention to gun-related deaths across the state.
In a separate incident, a man is under arrest after a person was shot multiple times and killed while sitting inside a car in McComb. Officers from the McComb Police Department responded to reports of the shooting at about 4:30 p.m. on December 26 in the 200 block of Dyson Drive. According to Police Chief Earnest Perry, the victim was identified as 22-year-old Delvareo Ducksworth. When officers arrived, they found Ducksworth had been “shot multiple times in the chest while seated inside a vehicle.”
He was pronounced dead at the scene. Chief Perry said police had one witness and were “pursuing some strong leads in the investigation.” The suspect, Jaquarrius Mallard, was arrested Saturday, according to the chief.
Officer-involved shootings
Seven deaths were reported in 2025 as a result of officer-involved shootings, based on incident reports. While such cases draw public attention, studies show they happen less often than many Americans think.
A 2016 study by the Pew Research Center found that while 83% of the public believed a typical officer had fired their service weapon at least once on the job, about 27% of officers said they had never fired their weapon while working.
The reasons officers use deadly force depend on the situation, their training and individual judgment. The Fourth Amendment allows police “to use deadly force when there is an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death to themselves or others,” according to the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest.
In 2025, some Mississippi officer-involved shootings occurred while law enforcement responded to different situations, according to incident reports from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety