Braxton Lott

Braxton Lott, a 27-year-old White male, lost his life on June 24, 2020, following a fatal shooting at a residence near Seminary, Mississippi, in Covington County. The incident occurred during the early morning hours at a mobile home on Woodbridge Lane, where Lott was shot in circumstances that prompted a homicide investigation by the Covington County Sheriff's Office. His death led to a search for the suspected gunman, who was apprehended later that same day.

According to investigators, Lott was critically wounded during the shooting and transported to Covington County Hospital in a privately owned vehicle rather than an ambulance. He arrived at the hospital at approximately 1:52 a.m., but despite efforts to save him, he was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. Covington County Coroner Chris Daquilla confirmed Lott's identity and notified his family of the tragedy. His remains were subsequently transported to Jackson, Mississippi, for an autopsy to establish further details surrounding his death.

As investigators worked to determine what had happened inside the mobile home, they identified Charles Chevalier, then 39 years old, as the suspected shooter. Chevalier, who was also known by the aliases "Biloxi Gee" and "Biloxi George," became the subject of a search conducted by local law enforcement. Authorities publicly identified him as an armed murder suspect and sought assistance in locating him. Investigators alleged that Chevalier had shot Lott at the Woodbridge Lane residence before leaving the area.

The search for Chevalier ended on the evening of June 24, 2020, when authorities located and arrested him in neighboring Simpson County. Deputies from the Covington County Sheriff's Office, working with the Simpson County Sheriff's Office, apprehended him shortly before 10:00 p.m., approximately 20 hours after Lott had been pronounced dead. The arrest brought an end to the immediate search for the suspected gunman and allowed investigators to proceed with the criminal case. Chevalier was subsequently charged with first-degree murder in connection with Lott's death.

The case continued through the Mississippi judicial system over the following year and a half. Although Chevalier initially faced a first-degree murder charge, the prosecution ultimately concluded with guilty pleas to lesser and additional offenses. On January 6, 2022, Chevalier appeared in court and pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. His guilty plea resolved the criminal proceedings without the need for a jury trial on the original murder charge.

Following the guilty pleas, a Covington County Circuit Court judge sentenced Chevalier to 20 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Under the terms of the sentence reported at the time, Chevalier was ordered to serve 10 years behind bars, followed by five years of probation and an additional five years of unsupervised supervision. The sentence established his criminal responsibility for the shooting and imposed a period of incarceration and supervision.

While investigators identified Chevalier as the person responsible for shooting Lott, publicly available accounts did not establish a definitive motive for the confrontation. The reports did not explain the relationship between the two men, what circumstances brought them together at the residence, or whether an argument or other dispute preceded the shooting. Those details remained largely absent from the public reporting surrounding the investigation and subsequent court proceedings.

The death of Braxton Lott brought a sudden and devastating end to a young life and left his family facing the consequences of a violent encounter. What began as an early morning shooting at a mobile home near Seminary ultimately developed into a criminal investigation, a same-day arrest, and a manslaughter conviction. With Chevalier's guilty plea and sentencing in January 2022, the criminal case reached a judicial resolution, although the precise circumstances that led to the deadly confrontation were not fully explained in publicly available reports.