Police searching for Costco area shooter
RIDGELAND — While the authorities don’t know who shot into the vehicle of a convicted felon driving north on the Highland Colony Parkway near the Costco last week, the victim and two other Canton men in the vehicle have been arrested.
The driver, Tyrone Lewis, 30, is out of the hospital but was charged on a weapons violation on Monday following the Thursday afternoon incident.
Lewis has been charged as a felon for carrying a concealed weapon and was in the Madison County Jail on Wednesday awaiting a bond hearing, the authorities said.
The two passengers, Anterrion T. Robinson, 25, and Lajeremy J. Johnson, 35, were taken into custody after the incident shortly after the trio left a bar and charged with tampering with evidence, including firearms they allegedly discarded. They are both out on a $10,000 each, officials said.
Lewis was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe near the Natchez Trace overpass toward the roundabout at Old Agency when someone in a sedan opened fire, the authorities said.
Lewis was shot in the left arm but continued to drive and turned south on 1-55 at Old Agency Road but was unable to continue and pulled to the shoulder of the roadway near I-220 where the authorities encountered him in a ditch, MDOT traffic video showed.
Lewis was treated on the scene and later transported to a hospital where he underwent surgery and was listed in critical condition as of Sunday, according to the latest report available.
Ridgeland Police Chief John Neal said that during their investigation officers determined that Robinson and Johnson had attempted to hide potential evidence by removing firearms from the vehicle and discarding them along the side of the interstate.
“The two men did post bond and were released,” Neal said Wednesday morning, adding that he had “no reportable updates. There have been developments but nothing major to lead to a suspect identification or arrest.”
Ridgeland Police Lt. Brian Myers said the police received a 911 call at 4:21 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4, reporting “two mobile vehicles exchanging gunfire” on the Highland Colony.
Neal said Johnson and Robinson gave statements saying they were passengers in Lewis’ Tahoe and had just finished eating at Walk-On’s restaurant and bar on the Highland Colony Parkway.
They said that as they left the bar heading north on the parkway a small light-colored sedan began following them and began firing at them.
Myers said traffic was never brought to a complete halt due to the emergency response, but south Madison County roadways were snarled during the evening rush.
Myers said the victim left the scene by ambulance at 4:46 p.m. and that investigators cleared the scene by 6:05 p.m.
Neal said officers collected evidence from two identified crime scenes, one on I-55 and the other on the Highland Colony just north of Natchez Trace where the shots were fired.