LELAND – Destrile Jackson recited Psalm 23 as she ran for her life while bullets whizzed around her. Then she hid under a Jeep, watching as “guys with black T-shirts” shot at the sidewalk in her hometown in the Mississippi Delta.

She was sure she was going to get hit in the explosion of gunfire Friday night in Leland at a block party following a high school homecoming football game. She did but was not seriously wounded.

“I got hit running across the street. I just kept running. I could see the bodies dropping as I looked back. … I could see the bodies. … Just three minutes of continuing fire,” Jackson, a 2016 Leland High graduate, recalled Monday.

“I could see people drop like something you see in a movie,” she said. “It was panic. Everyone was in survival mode. People running and getting trampled. Some guy was having a seizure near me. It was pure panic.”

Mississippi communities from Leland to Lorman are reeling from the chaos of gun violence that killed nine people and wounded more than a dozen during or after high school and college homecoming celebrations Friday and Saturday.

Leland became the site of the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. this year when six people were killed and 20 were wounded in gunfire that erupted late Friday during a celebration downtown that included people who had returned to the small town to see friends and family. 

“It’s sad that we’re now known for a mass shooting. It had nothing to do with the school or the students,” Leland nonprofit leader Jasmine Styles said Monday, hours before the community held a candlelight vigil to honor victims of the violence.

“The most we’re used to is kids stealing license plates off cars,” she said. “The most we saw recently was kids setting off firecrackers at the tailgate, and people thought they were gunshots.”

Styles, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor, said she drove by downtown Leland on Sunday.

“It’s been taped off,” she said. “It looks like a cloud of gloom.”

The FBI Jackson office set up a digital media tips website where people with information can anonymously share cellphone video, photos or other information about the Leland shooting.

Elsewhere in Mississippi, two died in gunfire after the Heidelberg High School homecoming Friday night, including a pregnant woman. On Saturday, the Alcorn State University homecoming in Lorman ended in the shooting death of a 29-year-old Vicksburg woman and the wounding of two others.

The condition of a child shot in the abdomen in the tailgate area after the Jackson State homecoming Saturday in Jackson is unknown.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is assisting local and federal law enforcement agencies in investigating the shootings. No arrests had been made by Monday in the JSU or Alcorn State shootings.

Washington County coroner LaQuesha Watkins identified the Leland victims as Oreshama Johnson, 41; Calvin Plant, 19; Shelbyona Powell, 25; Kaslyn Johnson, 18; Amos Brantley Jr., 18; and JaMichael Jones, 34.

Brekyra Fisher, 29, of Vicksburg, died in the shooting at Alcorn State, according to Claiborne County Coroner Kieon Neal. 

Maxine Greenleaf, vice president of marketing and communications at Alcorn State, said the victim was not a student. A university statement said the campus in rural southwestern Mississippi now has “heightened security measures in place.” 

“Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the family and loved ones of the deceased,” the university statement said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured individuals and their families as well.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact Campus Police at 601-877-3000 or MBI and Crime Stoppers at 888-827-4637 or MBITIPS@dps.ms.gov.

The student government associations at Alcorn State and JSU released a joint statement that they “stand together – united as one HBCU.”

“Our shared legacy as Mississippi’s two premier HBCUs calls us to uplift one another – not only in moments of celebration, but also in times of challenge.”

The Jasper County coroner’s office identified the Heidelberg victims as Mikeia McCray, 28, of Laurel, who was pregnant, and Chris Newell, 35, also of Laurel. 

“The town has never experienced anything like this before, and my heart goes out to those devastated by this tragedy,” state Sen. Juan Barnett, former mayor of Heidelberg, said Monday. “It brings tears to my eyes right now. It really hurts.”

Heidelberg Police Chief Cornell White said Monday the department and other agencies continue to investigate. The town is about 85 miles southeast of Jackson.

Tylar Jarod Goodloe, 18, was arrested Saturday by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department in the Heidelberg shooting. He is charged with capital murder and possession of a deadly weapon on educational property. His bond is set at $2 million cash, according to the sheriff’s office. It wasn’t known Monday whether he is represented by an attorney.

Three other suspects were arrested Monday: 19-year-old Damarin Starks, charged with accessory after the fact and tampering with physical evidence; 19-year-old Jadarius Quartez Page, charged with accessory after the fact; and 19-year-old Jabari Deshaun Collins, charged with possession of a deadly weapon on educational property.

Barnett knows what it’s like to have a loved one’s life stolen. While he was fighting in Desert Storm, his father was killed in Heidelberg in 1991. 

“People sympathize,” the senator said, “but the hurt is not the same.”

The East Jasper School District released a statement Saturday saying the violence marred what should have been a joyful evening.

“These actions are not representative of the values, strength, or character of our community,” the statement said. “East Jasper and Forever Blue and Gold Homecoming are a place and time where families come together, where neighbors support one another, where alumni come from far and near with excitement and anticipation, and where our schools are centers of pride and belonging.”

Community members on social media said McCray was a Heidelberg High School graduate from the Class of 2016. 

The school district said it has fully cooperated with local and state law enforcement during the investigation, but understands there will be “questions, concerns, and fear in the aftermath of this tragedy.” 

“While this brings no comfort to the families and friends impacted, please know that the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community still remain our highest priorities.” 

Sen. Derrick Simmons, who represents Leland, called the shootings “just senseless gun violence.”

“What we are experiencing now is just a proliferation of guns just being in circulation.” 

Styles, who operates a pre-trial diversion program in Leland, echoed those thoughts..

“To my knowledge, nothing like this has happened in my 31 years of living in Leland,” she said. “How are they getting access to weapons and alcohol? There must be adults giving it to them.”

Jackson, one of the shooting victims in Leland, said her fondest memories growing up were from homecoming.

“Homecomings are usually filled with love. We have Block Party Saturday and Family Fun Day Sunday,” she said. “It’s always something people looking forward to. We wouldn’t do that to our own. We’re just as shocked as the rest of the world. Our homecoming’s been stained like that.”

She said she is not planning to go to any more homecomings in the Delta.

Everytown for Gun Safety for Gun Safety advocates for evidence-based solutions to end gun violence.

“I shouldn’t have to text my parents to tell them I’m safe every time there’s a shooting near my school,” said Eshah Green-Ortega, a volunteer with the Jackson State chapter of Students Demand Action. “It keeps happening on our campuses, at our celebrations, and in our communities. We deserve to feel safe learning and living our lives, and our lawmakers need to do their jobs and pass the basic gun safety laws that will keep us safe.”

Jerry Mitchell and Candice Wilder contributed to this report.

Updated 10/13/25: This story has been updated to add photos and to reflect additional arrests in the Heidelberg shooting.