More suspects were sentenced Thursday in the case of the high-profile mass shooting that killed four men at a packed New Year’s Eve party in 2021. This meant that some of the remaining defendants could no longer be put on trial.
In July, Latavion Bland, 23, Vincent Armstrong, 21, and Mario Clark, 26, all pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of mayhem. They were some of the last six people to be found guilty in connection with the killings, which destroyed a Gulfport neighborhood with gunfire.
Four people, aged 52, Sedrick McCord, 28, Corey Dubose, 23, and Aubrey Lewis, 22, died in the killings. Three others got cuts that were not life-threatening.
Shots were fired at the party on Lewis Avenue, where more than 100 people were gathering. Lead prosecutor Ian Baker said that Gulfport got the report of the killings just before midnight on December 31, 2021. Over 100 empty shell casings were found by cops in the streets and on the front lawn of the house.
Bland was given a five-year jail sentence for mayhem, which will run along with the six-year sentence he is already serving for aggravated assault in a separate case. The sentence includes credit for time already spent in jail.
Armstrong has been given a total sentence of 25 years in prison, but 20 of those years will be suspended, and he has five years to serve. He will get credit for time already served for causing damage and shooting into a car on New Year’s Eve and for a drug charge that is not tied to this case. He got a $2,000 fine from the judge.
Clark was given a 10-year prison term that was suspended and five years of post-release supervision. He was found guilty of mayhem and hindering prosecution in the Gulfport shootout and also faced a charge of failing to stop for police or felony fleeing in a separate case.
All three of the suspects who were sentenced on Thursday refused to say anything to the judge before they were sentenced.
Police said that witnesses and victims of the killing “refused to provide the full truth of what happened on that deadly evening.” Baker said this in a previous statement.
He did say, though, that Gulfport police put together the facts. At first, only adults went to the party. One group of young people from one area showed up just before midnight, though. Police said that things got worse between the two groups of teens throughout the night.
It was reported that Aubrey Lewis from Bay St. Louis and Corey Dubose from Gulfport got into a fight in the middle of Lewis Avenue. What they did was hit Sedrick McCord’s car. Police heard from witnesses She got out of the car and shot a gun once into the air. They both pulled out guns at the same time and shot and killed each other.
The Department of the Attorney General said Preston then killed McCord with a gun.
Then, some people, like Bland and Armstrong, “shot carelessly into the crowd that had gathered around the fight.”
Harris’s body was found in the street
As of December of last year, Isavian Preston admitted to manslaughter and illegally having a gun while a convicted criminal. He was given a 30-year sentence that will run after the 8-year sentence he is already serving.
Khalid Williams, who is 29 years old, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of illegally having a gun while a convicted criminal. He was given a second sentence of 12 years to serve after the 8 years he is already serving.
Breanna Riley, who is 25 years old, pleaded guilty to obstructing the prosecution of a felony in June.
