A third incident where shots were fired in the city limits of Picayune was part of a fight.

The most recent incident took place on Feb. 16, at about 5:15 p.m. where the department got a complaint about a fight on Clover Circle near Martin Luther King Boulevard involving several males and gunfire, according to a press release from the Picayune Police Department.

When officers arrived on scene, a group of males fled. The responding officer ordered them to stop but only a juvenile stopped. The juvenile was taken into investigative custody and was found to have a large contusion below his right eye.

A second officer pursued another male who had run from the scene. After a struggle behind a residence on Jackson Landing Road, the officer apprehended 18 year-old Malcolm Nixon of 304 Jarrell St. and charged him with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the release states.

The juvenile told the officer that the incident occurred as he and his friends were walking and approached by another group of males. One of the males in the second group hit the juvenile suspect in the face with a handgun, the release states. As the juvenile and his friends ran from the second group, shots were fired grazing one person. The victim refused treatment for his wound and refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Four days later the department was able to make two arrests, both juveniles who are being charged as adults for felony assault charges, Deputy Chief David Ervin said. The suspects have been identified as Willie Ray Jones, 17, of 611 Lewis Circle and Leon Washington, 16, of 161 Eloise St. Jones is charged with aggravated assault and Washington is charged with attempted aggravated assault, according to police reports. Ervin said evidence currently points to both suspects as being involved in the shooting. Both suspects were still in custody at press time.

This incident makes the third incident where shots have been fired inside the city limits.

The first incident involved a drive-by shooting on Jan. 9, where shots were fired at three juveniles on Merrydale Drive. Two suspects were arrested, one of them was Nixon. The other suspect was 19 year-old Rumeal Foster of 2301 Morris St. Nixon and Foster were both charged with three counts of drive-by shooting for that incident.

There are still no suspects identified in second incident, which took place Jan. 25, on North Jackson Avenue. Several shots were heard outside a residence on the street. When the residents looked outside the window, they saw a white box-body type car speed away from the area. Officers found several spent shell casings and a bullet hole near the kitchen window.

Investigations into the cases have at times met with no one claiming to have witnessed any of the incidents, the release states.

The department is asking for help in completing the ongoing investigation into these cases and parents are encouraged to get involved with the day-to-day activities of their children.

“We are fortunate that nobody has been shot or seriously injured during these incidents, but how long will this good fortune last?” the release states.

Anyone who can provide information to help in the investigation can contact the department at 601-798-7411 or investigations at 601-798-0374.