In the late evening of May 27, 2020, emergency services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, were dispatched to a distressing scene on Edwards Street. There, in a parking lot, they discovered 27-year-old Tedarron Price suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Price was urgently transported to Forrest General Hospital, but his injuries, a total of thirteen gunshot wounds, proved to be fatal.
The investigation into Price's death quickly gained momentum as Hattiesburg Police detectives utilized
surveillance footage from a nearby package store. This crucial piece of evidence allowed them to identify Kedrick Tevon Lee as the gunman. Just three days after the shooting, Lee was taken into custody. The investigation also led to the apprehension of several of Lee's family members. His mother, Jacinta James, was charged with hindering prosecution, and his siblings, Micharlos James and Amber Lee, along with others, were also arrested in connection with the homicide.
The motive for the brutal shooting appeared to be rooted in a prior tragedy that had befallen Lee's family. Just a week before his own demise, Tedarron Price had been questioned by authorities as a person of interest in the murder of Kedrick Lee's brother, Rhakim James. Though he was cleared as a suspect and sent home, the timing of events suggests a possible connection between the two killings.
In November 2021, a jury found Kedrick Tevon Lee guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and tampering with physical evidence. Subsequently, a 12th Circuit Court Judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Tedarron Price. Lee also received an additional 20 years for the weapons and evidence tampering charges, ensuring he would spend the remainder of his life behind bars. The court proceedings revealed that Lee had used two handguns, a 9mm and a. 380, to carry out the shooting.
