In the quiet community of Kosciusko, Mississippi, the life of 67-year-old Tim Lawrence was tragically cut short on Sunday, March 29, 2026. A resident of Attala County, Lawrence became the first victim in a violent sequence of events that unfolded that afternoon. Authorities were first alerted to the situation around 1:40 p.m., when they received a report of a man shot in the roadway on Attala Road 1107. Upon their arrival, they discovered Lawrence deceased at the scene.
As investigators began to process the scene of the first homicide, information quickly surfaced identifying 41-year-old Chris Hughes, also of Attala County, as a suspect in Lawrence's death. It was reported that Hughes had been picked up by someone and was a passenger in a gray GM truck, sparking a search for the vehicle and the suspect. The situation escalated approximately an hour and a half later, around 3:20 p.m., when a second shooting was reported a few miles away on Attala Road 1141.
At the second location, law enforcement found the gray GM truck wrecked. The driver, 46-year-old Jeffery Mallet Jr. of Attala County, had sustained gunshot wounds. He was transported to Baptist Attala Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, marking the second fatality of the day at the hands of the same suspect. With two men dead, a large-scale manhunt for Chris Hughes was launched, involving multiple law enforcement agencies. A perimeter was established, checkpoints were set up, and air support was brought in to aid in the search for the armed and dangerous suspect.
The manhunt concluded later that evening when reports of gunfire in the area led deputies to a residence. There, they learned that Hughes had attempted to force his way into a home through a back door. The homeowner, in an act of self-defense, fired their weapon, striking Hughes. He was transported to Baptist Attala Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The death of the suspect brought an end to the violent rampage that had shaken the small Mississippi community.
