On the evening of September 17, 2020, gunfire echoed through downtown Greenwood, Mississippi, leading to the death of Larry Montgomery. A 34-year-old Black/African American man, Montgomery was found by responding Greenwood Police officers lying in the intersection of Main and Johnson Streets, just outside a club known as Memphis Style. He had already passed away from his injuries.
Mere feet away in the grass, officers discovered another victim, William McGee, also 34, who had been shot multiple times. Emergency responders transported McGee to Greenwood Leflore Hospital, but he later succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into the double homicide soon focused on Tyrell Stigler. Authorities had already identified Stigler as a person of interest in a series of other violent incidents that had occurred in Greenwood. After he was arrested in connection with those other events, Stigler confessed to shooting both Larry Montgomery and William McGee. His confession linked him directly to the killings on Main Street and placed him at the center of a string of violent crimes.
Stigler was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Montgomery and McGee. Due to significant pre-trial publicity surrounding the case, his defense was granted a change of venue, and the trial was moved to Lafayette County. An initial attempt to seat a jury in June 2026 was unsuccessful, but the trial was rescheduled and began on August 24, 2026. The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorneys Amanda Sturniolo Langford and Patricia A. Hicks, presented its case over three days.
On August 26, 2026, after deliberating for three hours, the Lafayette County jury found Tyrell Stigler guilty on both counts of first-degree murder. Following the verdict, Leflore County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Carey-McCray sentenced Stigler to the only penalty allowed under Mississippi law for the crime: two consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Stigler had previously been convicted in March 2026 for the separate murder of another man, Cordarell Stanley. With the conviction and sentencing in August 2026, the court proceedings for the murder of Larry Montgomery came to a close.
