The community of Indianola is making an appeal for change after 16 people were shot and three were killed in a mass shooting last weekend.
A large group of people were gathered around the local nightclub Club Lit on Church Street, before gunfire sounded just after midnight on Sunday morning. The shooting, which law enforcement believes could involve as many as three shooters, killed 19-year-olds Areon Butler, Cameron Lee Butts, and Marquette Baits.
A vigil was held on Wednesday in the Mississippi Delta town where city officials and citizens mourned the losses of the victims. It also served as a rally against gun violence in the town of just over 16,000.
“Our answer cannot be a firearm,” Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone told the crowd on Wednesday. “There are far too many firearms on our streets.”
Indianola Chief of Police told FOX13 Memphis that no arrests have been made in the case. Investigators are still awaiting autopsy reports and are calling on the community’s help to bring justice in the case.
City leaders enacted a State of Emergency following a meeting the night after the shooting. Mayor Featherstone confirmed that other ordinances have been initiated in response to the violence, including a midnight curfew for all citizens and a restriction on the size of all social gatherings to 75 people.
The Mississippi Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America also released a statement in response to the shooting, making a plea to lawmakers to curb the violence by any means necessary. The statement made reference to another Mississippi mass shooting that killed one and injured 12 in West Point in March.
“We shouldn’t have to worry that when our kids go out for the night, they may not make it home. Mississippi ranks nearly last in the country for gun law strength, and our state has the gun violence rate to prove it,” Lekitha Hill, a volunteer with the chapter, said. “Our lawmakers have blood on their hands. Time and time again, we’ve demanded our lawmakers keep our communities safe and time and time again, they fail us.”
