Jackson Jambalaya

How does the car come to rest "near the interstate" if the driver is shot dead at the intersection of Fortification and North State Street? What was the passenger doing during this time?

What about the cameras mounted on each traffic light pole at the intersection.
Were they not operational?

First, this clearly was a planned hit. It is only being considered as random because the detectives have no clue on any leads. Second, you'll never find this guy. He's nowhere near Jackson at this point. Third, get out of Jackson ASAP!

1:31 - It states her car continued East (after the shooting) and ended up near the interstate. You can only assume she was able to keep driving for a few moments before she perished.
The animal that did this needs to be put down.

I drove through that intersection yesterday. Several people were hanging out on the corner. One would approach cars but if they didn't look his way he would move on. Looked like a hang out for homeless people.

That's 3 shootings I can remember in that area of Fenians/State Street. A security guard at that Shell station was shot and killed, there was a shooting at that Exxon on corner of State/Fortification and now this. Why would anybody go down there?

The passenger was calling 911, and managed to stop the car by steering it into a guard rail right past La Cazuela after the driver died and the car slowed.

That intersection is lousy with bums and panhandlers during the day. They hole up in that JATRAN bus stop shelter.

Baptist Hospital was 200 yards away!!!! Something doesn't add up here. Why did the passenger let her drive in the direction AWAY from the hospital. Only the passenger knows what happened and it's not being let out. Why would anyone make an accusation that this is a hit job? The truth will be found out soon enough.

2:42 - interesting information. This is the first place I have seen any statement of how the car traveled the mile after the shooting. Since you have that info, maybe you can answer a question I have had - once shot, why didn't they travel one block to the Baptist Hospital Emergency entrance, rather than go to the interstate?

That intersection is not 'that lousy' with bums and panhandlers during the night. Been through it many nights, both early and late. Yes, there generally is a panhandler on the corner of Walgreens during the day, and occasionally a couple of folks in the bus stop shelter, but not normal to be around there late at night.

TO: 2:25 P.M.

You asked why would anyone go down there. To answer your question; people from out of town who are not familiar with the area. That is the nearest exit off I-55 to Baptist Medical Center and also Medical Arts East. In addition, there are a number of medical offices just north of Baptist Medical. It's just natural for them to take the Fortification exit to get to these places.

You also mentioned the crimes that have already been committed in that area. I remember those and in addition, I believe the Walgreen's on the southwest corner has also been robbed several times.

The big question here is since we all know this, why has JPD not paid closer attention to this area? If they would take the time to show a greater presence in this area it would deter crime. Also, they need to disburse the group of homeless/hangers-on, whatever they are and stop them from hanging on that corner in a gang and approaching traffic.

This area is a part of Belhaven for God's sake! Do these residents realize how soon it will be that they will begin to experience some of this same crime in their neighborhood; if they are not already feeling it? It needs to be stopped and stopped NOW!!!

3:06 you ever been shot or take fire? If not, I can tell you that you revert to well ingrained training, otherwise it's a crap shoot as to what happens next. Something tells me neither one of these young ladies had such training nor the opportunity to reflect calmly and logically as you do when you pose your silly a$$ question.

To all the Sherlock Holmes out there wondering why didn't this poor girl and her passenger think clearly by hop, skip, and jumping over to the hospital??

It is because they just got shot! Can you imagine the hysteria of the girl driving, knowing she was dying?? How petrified do you think her friend was? Do you think she wanted to turn around and drive back by this deranged animal? My gosh folks think about what those moments were like for those poor girls, of course they weren't thinking clearly.

RIP

Girls were from Brandon. You would be surprised at how many people under the age of 30 don't know where anything in Jackson is, even the Governor's mansion. No joke. They may not know Baptist is right there.

Shooter is on left side of car. Do you turn into him and give him another shot or do you haul ass down the road? Girl probably panicked. Not to mention Baptist is in range of shooter. if he is in car or on foot, he can easily follow them there.

From what I understand, the driver didn't realize initially that she'd been hit. They were panicked and drove forward at speed.

And going to Baptist ER, even if they had had the presence of mind to do so, wouldn't have made any difference - her wound was mortal and she died within a minute or two.

Come on people! The girl is shot. Fight or flight kicks in. With bullet going through glass and possibly the seat, she may have had no idea how gravely she was injured. The bullet obviously nicked a major blood vessel for her to lose consciousness and expire that quickly. As for the passenger, when was the last time any off us took control of a moving car from the passenger seat? You folks are a special kind of stupid.

"From what I understand, the driver didn't realize initially that she'd been hit."

Right, Goober. And you got that statement from whom? She either died instantly or within a few seconds.

And to answer the guy who explained why anybody would drive in that area, nobody goes to Baptist Medical Center, Medical Arts East, medical offices just north of Baptist Medical or anywhere else in that immediate area at midnight.

When all is said and done, I think we will learn that the two girls had this chump in the back seat, he was directing them to a drug transaction, the shit hit the fan, the chump hit the street and the bullet hit the girl.

Jackson is still a shit-hole where you can expect this Chicago-Type activity.

If this homicide were the result of a hit, why would it follow that all Jacksonians should move out of town as soon as possible? So they can engage in illegal or dubious behavior in places with lower crime rates? The logic eludes me here.

I spoke with an officer. Likely, the thug had stolen the gun and knew little about firearms. The hammer was cocked. He tapped the gun on the car window to rob her and the gun went off. He ran. Tragedy of Jackson

For those that try to describe this area, and claim that 'nobody would be down there that time of night' - obviously haven't been there lately. Besides Baptist and its associated facilities, there is a major bar/restaurant one block away that has plenty of business at that hour; two 'eating places' next door; another restaurant two blocks away still open; and two major restaurants within a block that close shortly before this happened. And that's not counting a bar a few blocks away that these girls were possibly coming from that has a large crowd well past this time of night.

As to the question about why she didn't go to Baptist, there are some good answers here, but if you follow them all the car did donuts at the intersection - no clear answer here (or anywhere that I've seen) as to which direction the car was headed when this happened. East, and therefore going straight to where car stopped; north and turning right to get to interstate? I assume cops have the info and can probably be better sleuths than all the private dicks on this site, and will probably come up with the final true story of how it all went down.

If every business in Jackson gave a dollar, how much would the reward be? It would take very little effort for the hunted to become the hunters here. Businesses and residents need to send a swift and clear message that if someone commits a crime like this in their area, there's going to be a $250,000 reward the next day and all the "no snitchin" B.S. in the hood ain't going to save you because your homies are going to be lining up to turn your ass in.

Chicago-Type activity... Chicago is not the most dangerous city in America, if you care to look at violent crime statistics--not even close.

The girls were at the red light waiting for it to turn green. An African American young man, wearing dark clothing, walked up to the driver window without warning. He pointed the gun at the driver. She didn't have any time to react. They got a quick glimpse....they ducked and he shot through the window hitting the driver in the back. He then ran away. The driver was coughing up blood and still had her foot on the accelerator, which is why they traveled a little further. Then she started lifting her foot and her head collapsed in her friends lap. The passenger was struggling to find the emergency brake, but eventually found it and was able to stop the car. She was in total shock of what just happened. The driver told her friend that she thinks she's dying and died in her lap. Very devastating and unimaginable! So please stop making assumptions. They did not know the shooter. There were no drugs involved! It was a random act of violence. The police are not ruling out gang initiation. Be kind and respect these poor girls. This is very traumatic for the passenger!

#hatecrime

Right, Not Chicago-Type activity. This is Jackson-Type activity.

A black man kills a white girl at random, not a hate crime.
A white man kills a black man breaking into his home, obvious hate crime.
such a dumb fucking double standard.
all you progressives need to be mugged once to get over yourselves.

I avoid Jackson like the plague.
Your chances of being attack rise 1000 fold when you cross the pearl river.

How are all of you getting your "theories"? And I don't think a policeman would cough up any info and jeopardize the investigation. Take notice that nothing good happens that time of night...never has...never will.

Hog headed Stokes or any other city councilman has had a presser on this! With it being a black on white crime the leaders OTHER than the mayor have said anything. He did because he knew it was the right thing to do. Problem is, the blacks WANT all whites to leave Jackson.....but, they know they cannot run it. Oh, they did hire a white guy from Nawlins to run the Water and Sewer..... but we know how that's going to play out.

What is the fool who thinks the killer was in the back seat thinking?
How could he possibly have shot the girl from the back seat and left a hole in the side window?
You don't have to be a genius to know that is stupid, just plain old common sense should work. Common sense goes out the window when there is so much hate in their mind.

Interesting post, 4:22 - that's the story I heard, too. Also that Chelsie didn't know she'd been hit until she started coughing up blood.

Also heard the part about the window tap mentioned in an earlier comment. The accidental discharge theory is new information - sounds plausible, though. I reckon we'll see.

4:22 is correct.
Most other comments here are stupid beyond belief.

"How are all of you getting your "theories"? With it being a black on white crime the leaders OTHER than the mayor have said anything."

Might be getting those 'theories' from the same place you are getting the 'black on white' crime theory. Hearsay, retractable and questionable report and speculation.

"A big ole black man with a big silver pistol shot my friend and ran away." That's just one notch above blaming it on a unicorn. But it might give some guy at Twin Peaks plenty of time to haul ass down to New Orleans.

Gang Initiations. I wish this old Chestnut would go away.

The last thing a gang wants is the police attention that comes along with murdering civilians. Makes it much harder to perform their everyday illegal activities.
And what good is a new gang member, who two weeks later is locked up, and a year later is in Parchman? That didn't help the gang one bit.

No idea if gang initiation is in play or not, but it does happen. Here is one example, per a community activist so it must be legit. There are others that aren't hard to find if you care to look.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333436/Carlos-Hernandez-murder-Girl-18-admits-randomly-picking-stranger-dousing-gasoline-burning-death-gang-initiation-ritual.html

The best thing you Rankin county residents can do is stay your ass in Rankin county.