COURTLAND, Miss. — Two men were shot to death outside a home on Shiloh Road this week.
District Attorney John Champion confirmed the shootings were unrelated to the death of 19-year-old Jessica Chambers who was burned alive last December.
Both crimes happened in the same small town.
This additional violent incident stirred up concerns about safety in Courtland.
“That’s what it looked like happened last night. Trouble came to us,” said homeowner Bernice Watson. She lived at the home where the fatal shootings happened Tuesday evening.
She said the two men who died turned up to a cookout she was hosting, looking for a fight.
She said the men wanted to find someone who they said beat up someone close to them.
This happened within six months of the Chambers murder.
There have not been any arrests in the teenager’s death.
“I guess people watch too many television shows, think that these cases are easy to solve. Things like that, and they’re not,” Champion said.
Champion said investigators are making progress in finalizing the timeline of where Chambers went in her final hours.
While Chambers’ death and this week’s fatal shootings were unrelated, he admitted they rattled the Courtland community.
“Historically, Courtland’s a very quiet community. We don’t have a lot of activity down there, and all of a sudden, we’ve got two major incidents down there,” Champion said.
Champion said deputy patrols remain strong in Courtland.
He said a change in policing there does not necessarily mean incidents like Tuesday’s could have been avoided.
“Police can’t be everywhere at every moment,” Champion said.
Investigators hoped to have the shooting investigation wrapped up soon, but Champion couldn’t say they werenear an arrest in the Chambers case at this point.
Investigators have not released the names of the victims in the shooting. T
here have not been any arrests.
Champion hoped to receive autopsy results this week.