In the early morning hours of July 6, 2023, 34-year-old Tiarra Pinkston, a Black female, was resting on the couch in her Newton, Mississippi, apartment when her life was tragically cut short. Multiple gunshots were fired into her home on Violet Street at approximately 4 a.m., with at least one of the bullets fatally striking her. Two children, aged 5 and 13, were also in the residence at the time of the shooting but were fortunately unharmed.
The investigation into the senseless act of
violence was a collaborative effort between the Newton County Sheriff's Office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations. Their work led to the identification and eventual arrest of four individuals in connection with the murder of Tiarra Pinkston. The suspects were identified as 22-year-old Azayvian Russell, 24-year-old Isaiah West, 26-year-old Antonio Skinner, and 17-year-old J'marion Sherbal. All four were charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling and capital murder.
Further investigation revealed that one of the suspects, Azayvian Russell, was also a person of interest in a separate shooting incident that had occurred on June 20, 2023, at a Marathon gas station in Newton. Following the murder of Pinkston, the local community mourned the loss of a woman remembered by her family and friends as a loving individual who enjoyed helping others. She was a mother to three children. In October 2025, a Newton County Grand Jury handed down indictments against Antonio Skinner and Azayvian Russell for the first-degree murder of Tiarra Pinkston. Newton County Sheriff Joedy Pennington lamented the tragic nature of the crime, stating, 'It is a very sad day when a person cannot lay in their home without the fear of bullets entering their house from gutless cowards.'
