A seventh suspect has been locked up in connection with a fatal shooting that rang out at Heidelberg High School following the football team’s homecoming game on Oct. 10.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday that Taylor Hartfield, 19, was arrested on Saturday. He is charged with accessory after the fact, accessory before the fact, and tampering with physical evidence, in connection with the incident that left three dead. His bond has been set at just over $2 million.
Hartfield joins six others behing bars: Jaylen Tyreqne Gammage, 19; Tylar Jarrod Goodloe, 18; Damarin Starks, 19; Jadarius Quartez Page, 19; and Jabari Deshaun Collins, 19; and an unidentified minor. Goodloe was charged with two counts of capital murder and possession of a weapon on educational grounds. Starks was charged with accessory after the fact and tampering with evidence, while Page and Collins were each charged with accessory after the fact.
Gunfire erupted after the football game against Mize High School with two people found dead, one reportedly on the baseball field and the other near the bleachers. A third person was injured in the incident but died Tuesday from “non-gunshot-related injuries,” the WDAM-TV reported.
The deceased were identified as Chris Newell, 35; Mikeia McCray, 28; and Cayus Stevens, 25. McCray was pregnant at the time, according to law enforcement.
RELATED: Pair of Heidelberg football games canceled after gun violence on campus
Heidelberg wasn’t the only school to be shaken by shootings two weekends ago. In Rolling Fork, a shooting injured one on the campus of South Delta High School, and at a downtown block party following Leland High School’s homecoming game, seven were killed and at least a dozen injured. Suspects have been taken into custody in both of those cases.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association, the league that all of the state’s public and some private schools participate in, issued a memo after the shootings, urging members to cancel on-campus tailgating events for the remainder of the season.
“I highly recommend at this time there be no tailgates on school property,” MHSAA executive director Rickey Neaves said. “All these events seem to stem from tailgates, so we recommend from advice from our attorney that we stop having tailgates on campus.”
