In a brazen, daylight attack on August 10, 2023, Brandon Brooks, a 26-year-old Black male, was shot and killed in what law enforcement described as an "ambush-style" slaying in Natchez, Mississippi. The shooting occurred shortly before 6 p.m. on Myrtle Drive in the Morgantown neighborhood. Brooks and another man, 24-year-old Taron Woods, were found with multiple gunshot wounds in the yard of a residence.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
The shocking nature of the crime drew a large crowd of onlookers as Adams County Sheriff's deputies and Natchez Police officers secured the area. Investigators quickly determined that the victims were targeted. Security camera footage captured three individuals dressed in dark clothing, gloves, and full-face coverings, carrying what appeared to be assault-style weapons. Testimony later revealed the attackers fired approximately 55 rounds, turning the scene into a "war zone." Just moments before the shooting, Brooks and Woods had been standing together calmly, "doing nothing," when they were ambushed.
Within days of the double homicide, authorities began making arrests. On August 16, 17-year-old Jamarion Perkins surrendered and was charged as an adult with two counts of murder. Soon after, police took 24-year-old Jadarrius James McKnight into custody on the same charges. A third man, 18-year-old Zackeri Reason, was arrested and charged with accessory before the fact to murder. The fourth suspect, 22-year-old Emanuel Hill, also known as Emanuel Hall, turned himself in on August 20 and was also charged with two counts of murder.
The investigation revealed that some of the suspects had prior criminal histories. At the time of the killings, Zackeri Reason was out on bond for a separate murder charge in another county. Jamarion Perkins was also later linked by the Natchez Police Department to a fatal shooting that had occurred in June 2023.
In November 2025, the case against three of the men went to trial in Adams County Sixth District Circuit Court. After deliberating for less than two hours, a jury found Jamarion Perkins, Jadarrius McKnight, and Emanuel Hill guilty on two counts of first-degree murder. Judge Carmen Brooks Drake sentenced each of them to two consecutive life sentences in prison. With the convictions, officials stated that justice had been served for the victims' families, bringing a close to one of the county's most closely watched criminal cases as of November 2025.
