In the early hours of a Tuesday morning in Brookhaven, Mississippi, the life of a young man was tragically cut short. Tony D. McGee Jr., a 19-year-old Black male, was discovered in his vehicle near the intersection of East Monticello and Grenn streets on March 20, 2018. A passerby had alerted police to a car that had struck a utility pole shortly after 4 a.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they found McGee inside the car with fatal gunshot wounds.
He was transported to King's Daughter Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the death of the young father was immediately treated as a homicide. The Brookhaven Police Department, with assistance from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department, began piecing together the events that led to the shooting. Investigators determined that the shooting had occurred at a different location before the car crashed. In the weeks that followed, law enforcement diligently followed leads and gathered information from the community, with Police Chief Kenneth Collins emphasizing the need for justice for McGee's family, including his young son and grieving mother.
Their efforts led to a breakthrough a month later. On April 22, 2018, authorities arrested Jesse Scott Smith and charged him with the murder of Tony D. McGee Jr. The arrest was a result of extensive investigative work and crucial information provided by members of the community who came forward to assist law enforcement. The motive and the specific details of the events leading up to the fatal shooting were not immediately disclosed following the arrest.
