News Briefs From Across The State
By Monica Land
Gunman confronted police officers
Tupelo police say a Verona man was killed in a confrontation with officers at an apartment complex.
Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Ray Hall tells the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that 22-year-old Gregory Martinez Hughes was fatally shot after allegedly firing a shot at the officer at around 9 a.m. Monday at the Barley Courts apartments in south Tupelo.
Autopsy results show Hughes died of a gunshot wound to the chest
Hall says two police officers had come to the apartment complex in response to an earlier call that gunshots had been fired. He says upon arriving, one of the officers confronted Hughes, who was armed with a small caliber handgun. The officer has not been identified.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation because an officer was involved.
Brandon man loses appeal in rape case
The state Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of the post-conviction claim of a Brandon man sentenced to 82 years in prison in a Rankin County rape case.
Kirby Shavers pleaded guilty in 2011 to rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault, grand larceny and burglary in an attack on a 73-year-old woman in 2007.
Prosecutors say the woman was raped at knifepoint. Authorities say Shavers then robbed her of church money and stole her car. He was arrested after being found in an abandoned house in Jackson.
In his post-conviction petition, Shavers claimed his sentence was too harsh.
The Appeals Court said Shavers was advised by the trial judge of the minimum and maximum sentences he faced on each count. The Appeals Court says each sentence Shavers received was within the statutory limits.
Two arraigned in Monroe County armed robbery
Monroe County authorities have arraigned two people in connection with the armed robbery of a man on a county road Saturday night.
Bond was set on Wednesday for Katherine E. Payne, 22 of Tupelo and Anthony Loague, 28 of Fulton.
Sheriff Cecil Cantrell says Payne and a second woman, Candace Marie Richardson, 21, of Nettleton took the man to an area off Black Cat Bottom Road where two men appeared with a gun and took the man's money and cellphone.
Investigators have identified the fourth suspect as Alex Christian, 26 of Fulton.
Arrest warrants have been issued for both Christian and Richardson.
Bond was set for Payne at $75,000.
Bond was set for Loague at $100,000.
Arrest made in convenience store robbery
Tupelo police have charged a man with the robbery of a convenience store Monday night.
Authorities say Terrance D. Rice, 22, of Shannon is charged with armed robbery and other charges.
The robbery took place at the Exxon Express Shop on Eason Boulevard around 9:30 p.m.
Authorities say Rice entered the store, displayed a handgun, and took the cash from the register.
Detectives say he left the store in a dark colored car, but was stopped a short time later by police who were in the area.
Rice is being held in the Lee County jail.
