Some families in Mississippi are still trying to process how and why an after-prom party turned deadly over the weekend.
Police said a gunman opened fire in Bay Saint Louis in the southern part of the state, WLOX reported.
When the shooting ended, two people were dead, and four others were wounded.
Investigators said the suspected shooter is now in custody.
De’Arreis Smith, 18, also known as Dee Dee, left his house Saturday night with friends who were attending a Bay High School prom after party.
“Good kid, and for this to happen, I have no words for that,” Smith’s grandmother Jackie Gordon said.
Before he left, he said goodbye to his grandma. She didn’t know that was the last time she would ever hear from him.
“About 1:30 this morning, that’s when I got the call that he had gotten shot. And when they said he got shot, I said ‘how did he get shot? What happened?’” Gordon said.
Police said Cameron Brand opened fire at the party, hitting Smith and five others.
“Where I’m at, to the back of your car, when he started shooting, so the young man said the bullet passed him, he moved like that, and he thought De’Arreis had ducked the guy out of the way, but when he looked down, De’Arreis was on the ground; he had gotten hit,” Gordon said.
Smith was shot in the back of the head.
Paramedics rushed him to the hospital in New Orleans.
His grandmother said they stopped in Slidell, Louisiana to stabilize him.
“Couldn’t talk, he was not responsive. His head was wrapped up; he had tubes all in him, and he had stuff all over him, but he couldn’t talk. He didn’t know I was there,” Gordon said.
Smith was pronounced dead at 7 a.m.
It’s a moment his grandma will never forget.
“It was terrible. I did not want to leave him. That was the hardest part, leaving him at the hospital,” Gordon said.
Smith had just finished classes at Hancock High School last year, and was anticipating graduating this May. He loved music, and was enrolling in the military.
“I don’t want it get swept under the rug, because I am not saying I don’t want justice for De’Arreis, but I want accountability, because justice would be him being here with me,” Gordon said.
Police said Brand is currently being held without bond.
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting.
