Calls for change after deadly shooting in West Point
WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – According to the West Point Police Department, around 5:30 on Sunday evening, officers responded to a shooting at Ridgewood Apartments.
When they got there, they found 15-year-old Jordan Logan in a grassy area near the complex, dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
“During our initial investigation, what we have come to the conclusion that it was a transaction of some vapes,” said West Point Police Chief Michael Edwards. “These vapes were supposed to be sold by one party to the other, and it was a transaction that went bad is the motive that we’re getting so far.”
West Point Police Chief Michael Edwards said they are in the early stages of the investigation, and are having the vapes tested to see if they had nicotine or some other substance.
A 17-year-old male and an 18-year-old male were also injured in the incident. Edwards says they are stable.
A month ago, the county endured a mass shooting that claimed the lives of 6 people.
To combat this within the community, Edwards says it’s going to take continued community involvement, connecting with the community, working with the youth, and parents speaking to their children.
“We are noticing that some of the younger generation are putting this stuff on display, whether it’s on Facebook or Twitter, or whatever the case might be,” Edwards said. “It shouldn’t come to the point where some tragedy happens that we try to correct it. If we’re seeing it on these social media, then we know parents, we know loved ones, brothers and sisters are seeing it too. So we all have to combat this. Not just Law enforcement. Lots of times were reactive, but some of these other entities can be proactive. We need a collective effort and not just when it happens its the police’s job. Obviously its our job to find out why it happened. But it’s everybody’s job to find out what we can do to prevent it.
“This type of violence is unique to our county. It’s not unique to our country,” Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said. “We’re dealing with gun violence all across our country. We talk about gun control and all these issues, which is great, but at the end of the day, it boils down to human behavior. And when we’ve got individuals out here that’re picking up guns and taking people’s lives, it’s the difference between right and wrong. I think that’s where we’re failing as a society, is that we’re not teaching at a younger age the difference between right and wrong. Everybody seems to think they have to have a gun to settle their differences or make some type of statement. I really think human behavior is what we have to focus on. That starts with our parents, or churches, it starts in the schools.”
Edwards has a message for those who may feel uneasy about these acts taking place in their community.
“We don’t have people coming from cities just shooting people in our community,” Edwards said. “We have people in our community who have some type of agenda that’s isolated. It’s affecting the people who have an agenda to commit a crime. That’s what’s happening and what were trying to prevent.”
Eddie Longstreet says the community will be hosting a second vigil in order to come together, pray, and share that gun violence is not the way to solve problems.
“For every choice, there is a consequence,” Longstreet said. “There are consequences that have to be paid. We want to let this community know this is a safe community, a great place to live, a great place to shop, and raise your children. We also know that we need to come together to talk about the problems that we’re having. So this prayer vigil will not only be about prayer, but it will also be about opening up the community. We want our young people to come. We know they are under a tremendous amount of peer pressure. We understand that, but we also want them to know they have good parents, extended family, extended community, and we want them to know what we came up with, and that is it takes a village to raise a child. So we want our young people to talk to us. We’ve been to the schools to pray with them, listen to them, we want them to tell us what they see and experience, and how we can help them overcome these challenges that they face every day.”
Chief Edwards says Sunday’s shooting was an isolated incident. There is no shooter at-large and no ongoing threat to the community.
He says the case is still under investigation and they are working with the Sheriff’s office and the District Attorney’s office.
Anyone with information can reach out to the West Point Police Department or Crime Stoppers.
He says the department sends its condolences to the families of the deceased and the parties involved.
The vigil will be on Thursday, Feb 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the Municipal Complex on Main Street.
Longstreet says they will begin hosting prayer vigils weekly to combat issues in the community.
For more information, you can call Longstreet at (662) 295-9600.
