A Tunica County man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for illegally possessing ammunition connected to a 2023 homicide.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills sentenced 44-year-old Korea McKay to the statutory maximum penalty. Prosecutors said McKay shot and killed 38-year-old Davao Thomas on Feb. 18, 2023, at the Kirby Estates apartment complex after Thomas told him to slow down. Investigators recovered two shell casings at the scene.
McKay fled in his truck, which was later found hidden behind a trailer in Dundee. He was initially arrested on a state murder warrant before being charged federally with being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Court records show McKay has multiple prior felony convictions, including assaulting a police officer and a federal drug conviction. He is also identified as a high-ranking member of the Vice Lords gang.
Mills ordered McKay’s sentence to run consecutively to a separate 48-month sentence he is serving from a 2020 DeSoto County case. At sentencing, Mills described the killing as the most outrageous case he has seen in 25 years.
“The number one priority of this office is to keep the citizens of this district safe, and removing a violent, repeat offenders like Korea McKay from civilized society will go a long way toward accomplishing that goal,” U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner said in a statement.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Tunica County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.
