In the early morning hours of February 6, 2017, a burst of gunfire outside a Yazoo City nightclub shattered the night and left four men dead, including 32-year-old Jerrandan Allen. The violence erupted around 1:30 a.m. outside Club 66 on Eleventh Street, where Allen and others had gathered. Allen, along with Gabriel Townsend, 35, was critically injured in the shooting and airlifted to the University Medical Center in Jackson, where they both succumbed to their wounds.
Two other victims, 36-year-old Edward Johnson and 30-year-old Kevin Johnson, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators quickly identified a single suspect, 27-year-old Briddell Barber, who was already facing a murder charge from a separate incident in March 2016 and was out on a $100,000 bond at the time of the quadruple homicide. The motive for the shooting was reportedly an enraged Barber, who became upset when his girlfriend was getting a ride home from the club with one of the victims. It is believed that three of the victims were shot simply for being witnesses to the initial confrontation.
Following an intensive manhunt, U.S. Marshals apprehended Briddell Barber in Jackson at approximately 9:30 a.m. on the same day as the shooting. He was subsequently charged with capital murder for the deaths of Jerrandan Allen, Edward Johnson, Kevin Johnson, and Gabriel Townsend. In November 2021, to avoid a potential death penalty, Barber pleaded guilty to the four murders, as well as the 2016 murder of Justin Porter. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing a close to the tragic case that deeply affected the Yazoo City community.
