Jackson Jambalaya

Mayor: ...going in evening now. This is the second deadly shooting at this location in recent months. It's unacceptable.I have directed the city attorney to explore all available legal options to have this property declared a public nuisance and pursue its closure. We will follow the legal process, but we will not look the other way when repeated violence puts lives at risk. Those responsible for this shooting will be held accountable. I urge anyone with information about this incident to come forward and assist the police department in its investigation. 

We look forward to strengthening our law enforcement capabilities through the model city's initiative, which was announced this past Friday with investments in personnel, investigative technology, and violence prevention. These resources will support our efforts to prevent violence and to bring those responsible to justice. We must also address places where serious violence continues to occur. The people of Jackson deserve a safe place to gather and enjoy their city. Protecting that right and protecting human life will remain our priority. 

The Hideaway operations, excuse me, the Hideaway nightclub's operations are currently suspended and awaiting further investigation. I'd like to recognize Chief of the Police Department for the City of Jackson, Dr. Michelle Brackney, for further comments. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.

Chief Brackney: Good afternoon. Today I also have with me Deputy Chief Serena Banks, who is also the Deputy Chief of Investigations, and then Captain O.B. Wells Jr., who is the Captain of Investigations. So thank you for being here. Today, as I stand before you as the Chief of Police in the City of Jackson to address this tragedy, on November 1st, violence erupted at the Hideaway Club leaving two people dead and six others injured. 

As always, our thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those who were injured, and everyone whose lives are forever changed and impacted by this incident. We recognize the unimaginable pain these families are experiencing, and we extend our deepest condolences. Among those impacted are college students, including members of Jackson State University community. These are young people with families. They have aspirations and futures ahead of them. Our hearts are with their families, fellow students, and university leadership during this difficult time. While this incident has understandably raised significant concerns within our university community, its impact extends throughout the entire City of Jackson. Families across the city continue to experience the devastating consequences of violence. 

What occurred was a senseless act of gun violence and demonstrated a callous disregard for human life. Individuals chose to introduce weapons and discharge gunfire in an environment where people gathered to enjoy themselves, to socialize,and just be young. Our immediate priority is to identify everyone who participated in this, establish their respective roles, and work with prosecutors to hold those accountable. To do this, we've launched a comprehensive investigation to establish exactly what has happened, identify those responsible for the shooting, and determine whether other individuals or entities may bear responsibility for the circumstances that contributed to this tragedy. 

Our investigators are actively collecting and reviewing evidence, including surveillance footage from the Hideaway and surrounding businesses and properties. We have requested assistance from the FBI, particularly in analyzing available video evidence and engaging our intelligence team to identify individuals, establish the connections, and develop investigative leads. We understand that local promoters worked in coordination with promoters from Memphis,Tennessee. We are examining the roles and responsibilities of the promoters, the security companies and personnel, the Hideaway's ownership and management, the plaza ownership, and anyone else whose actions or failures may have contributed to this incident. We will review the security arrangements, access control procedures, applicable contracts,licensing requirements, and prior safety concerns to determine whether established responsibilities were fulfilled. 

The November 1st shooting was the second homicide at that Hideaway this year. There was also a separate deadly shooting at the racetrack involving the same promoter to this event. Following those incidents, I personally called in those promoters and business owners. I connected them for an in person meeting to address the seriousness at what occurred at their previous locations and our concerns about public safety. In light of the prior incidents and concerns discussed during that meeting, we must examine what actions were taken, what responsibilities were understood, and whether sufficient measures were implemented to protect the public. But let me be clear about this. 

Our investigation will not stop just simply identifying individuals who pulled the triggers. We'll examine the conduct of every responsible person,promoters, security personnel, business operators, anyone else whose actions or failures may have contributed to this tragedy. Where the evidence establishes criminal conduct or actionable wrongdoing, we will pursue appropriate avenues of accountability in coordination with our prosecutors and appropriate legal authorities. In addition to this investigation, we are reactivating our quick response team to increase our visible presence and proactively address violence and potential threats throughout the city. Our officers will be out in full force, focusing on areas and activities requiring our additional attention. We are taking immediate steps to protect our residents, deter further violence, and maintain public safety throughout Jackson. To the families affected by this tragedy, we recognize your pain and your need for answers. We do not take that responsibility to you lightly. 

To the Jackson State community and the City of Jackson, we recognize the concern and the heartbreak this incident has created. We cannot change what has happened,but we can commit ourselves to a thorough investigation, follow the evidence, identify those responsible. The safety of our citizens is not negotiable, and our commitment to this justice is unwavering. 

For those of you who have information, this is an active investigation. We need the community's assistance. Anyone who attended the event,witnessed the shooting, or has information about the heavily armed individuals involved, or photographs, or video, you are urged to come forward. Please contact the Jackson Police Department at 601-960-1800 or Crime Stoppers. We ask that you preserve any evidence and share it with us. No piece of information is too small to be helpful in bringing those responsible to justice. And with that, we'll take your questions.

Reporter: Question for you. Do we know how the guns got inside? What security, do we know the security measures that the owner of the Hideaway put in place to prevent people with guns getting inside this establishment?

Chief Brackney: So we understand that there were some security measures properly in the front of the building,however that those may have been defeated in the rear of the building by personnel or people with inside of that location.

Reporter: And if I'm not mistaken, a few months ago, by the way, you held a meeting on the nightclub owners. Did we do a follow-up on the measures that you asked them to have, seeking measures, and did they do these?

Chief Brackney: And that's what we'll be following up on is did they follow through with every security measure that we had asked for and that we had implemented with them. And specifically, you're right, every one of our nightclubs that had had high profile incidents, shootings, fights, things of that nature, they were brought in and they were given very specific instructions about upgrading their security, their video cameras, their surveillance, their personnel. And then we're also working to unify what does security presence look like off duty across the city. Right now there are a lot of disparate companies out there, private security, and are they equipped and trained to be able to handle the type of violence that is occurring at these locations.

Reporter: Have you also spoken with the owner of this property by the way, and if you did, what did he say in response to this tragedy?

Chief Brackney: So we have not directly spoken with the owner who is actually in the New York, New Jersey area.The persons who are at the Hideaway and all of those are lessees within that location, but that does not absolve the owner from the type of incidents that have occurred there and the responsible leases and who he's leasing it to, and the type of incidents and the type of programs and events that they're holding there.

Reporter: And also, you mentioned that you're holding promoters accountable. How are you doing so exactly, for this type of tragedy that just happened Sunday?

Chief Brackney: So we will pursue all of our legal avenues to see what the promoters' responsibility are in these incidents. Are they doing these things across state lines, if we're using with Memphis and Tennessee, can we use our federal partners to bring them in to help us with this investigation. So we'll use every opportunity and every tool that we have with our local federal law enforcement partners to make sure that we use every avenue to pursue justice in this case.

Reporter: Do you think the best solution is to shut down this establishment by the way since this is more than one violence, gun violence that happened, do you think that's the best solution?

Chief Brackney: We're doing, we're addressing the conditions of crime and we're not identifying any individual. If the conditions of crime are occurring in your location, then your location will be shut down.

Reporter: You mentioned relaunching the quick response team. Would that be specifically for nightclubs or just in areas that's prone to violence, specifically gun violence?

Chief Brackney: And I'll answer this and then if there's any other other questions from other individuals. Yes, the quick response team has been put in place for gun violence. Now gun violence also occurs in locations like nightclubs where there is often alcohol, and then there's also emotions, connections, people are in social spaces, and we're introducing guns at higher levels into these locations. So we will be very much targeting the conditions that allow for crime, and if those conditions are occurring at nightclubs, we will address them there.

Reporter: Is there any evidence that this attack was a targeted attack? And is there still any threat that Jackson residents need to be worried about?

Chief Brackney: So when you're saying target attack, I would like you to be a bit more specific. Do we know whether there was a relationship between the shooter and the incident or the person? We're still developing all of that information. It would not be prudent for us. What we can say that at this time that we know that it has been contained and isolated into that community, and we've not had any retaliatory violence as a result of that that we have been able to identify.

Reporter: And do we have any updates on the other people that were shot, are they expected to survive, what are their conditions like?

Chief Brackney: And we just got that, Chief Banks if you... or Captain Wells, how many do we still have in the hospital?

Captain Wells: We still have two.

Chief Brackney: Okay, we still have two and the other four have been released, and then we'll keep continuing with the update of their status.

Reporter: So this recently, you said heavily armed individuals. So could you release any details from the preliminary investigation, what kind of weaponry are we dealing with here exactly?

Chief Brackney: They were high powered rifles, and then we will still be able to work to identify the exact type of weapons that were used at the location as we continue with our ballistics and forensic evidence.

Reporter: And then you said that the Memphis promoter that was involved with this shooting had also been involved with something, the previous shooting at the racetrack?

Chief Brackney: No, that is incorrect. We have local promoters here who have been working with Memphis, and the local promoters here were also involved in this incident as well as the one at the racetrack where there was a shooting as well. So we see a pattern there of irresponsibility around their promotion and securing their events.

Reporter: Do you think that maybe there could be some connection with the promoters themselves that might be attracting unnecessary attention to those events that resulted in these shooters?

Chief Brackney: We'll look at that overall and to as to what is the responsibility of any promoter for any of their events and the safety at their events. Is there Nick, is there one more question? One more, no?

Reporter: We had past read instances that there were skiing masks going in...

Chief Brackney: I'm sorry?

Reporter: We read past instances that there were wearing ski masks going in, but is there a possibility they got past security because it might have been like a, they thought it was Halloween costumes since Halloween...

Chief Brackney: We're going to rule that out, that that was not part of the attire for the day, particularly when you're heavily armed with an AR or an AK, probably not the uniform of the day or the Halloween costume of the day.

Reporter: Chief, just real quick if I may, is there any leads to the suspect?

Chief Brackney: At this point in time, we are not able to release anything. As soon as we get it, we will get it out to the public. Again, we're waiting on the FBI and video surveillance to help us with that. Thank you so much for this, we appreciate you. Any follow up questions you can get them to Communications Director Lot or to our PIO Detective Tommy Brown. Thank you for that. Thank you Chief, thank you Mayor.

Kingfish note: Let's see: Finding Nemo, Gone With the Wind, and of course, Fantasia.