On the night of March 27, 2015, police in Magee, Mississippi, responded to a distress call reporting gunfire at the Park Place Apartments on Raleigh Drive. Upon arriving at the scene shortly after 10:00 p.m., officers discovered a male victim who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the complex's parking lot. Emergency responders and the Simpson County Coroner attended to the scene, but the individual was pronounced dead shortly after their arrival.
The victim was identified as Erin
Lee Barber, a 21-year-old Black male resident of Mendenhall. Barber, a former student-athlete known for playing football with the Magee Trojans, had been the target of violence that investigators believed stemmed from an earlier dispute. According to law enforcement, an altercation had begun earlier that day in neighboring Covington County before escalating and eventually concluding with the fatal confrontation at the apartment complex in Magee.
Following the shooting, authorities took 20-year-old Maurice Chevalia James into custody. Police identified James as the shooter and charged him with possession of a stolen firearm, in addition to holding him on an outstanding warrant for simple assault. A Glock 9mm handgun was recovered from the scene as part of the evidence collection. Chief Randy Crawford of the Magee Police Department stated that the investigation's findings would be presented to the Simpson County Grand Jury to determine further legal action regarding the homicide.
