‘Bring Chill home.’ As vigil held for missing Picayune man, rumors draw militia group
Family and friends of Willie Q. Jones, a Picayune man who has been missing since July 6, held a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening to show support for his family and pray for his safe return home.
“We can’t find Willy,” said his cousin, Tilikia Coleman. “And we as a community are trying to figure out, what could we do next for them, for his immediate family, for his children, for his loved ones, as a community, for us. What could we do? What else?”
About 200 people gathered in J.P. Johnson Park, many of them wearing T-shirts reading “#BringChillHome,” referencing the nickname Jones earned because of his easy-going nature. They lit red candles and listened to speeches by community leaders and Jones’s brother, Maurice. A thunderstorm held off long enough for the speakers to finish, but wind and lightning did not.
Two other Picayune residents, Dustin and Erica Gray, had been identified as persons of interest in Jones’ disappearance and were taken into custody by U.S. marshals in Pueblo, Colorado about an hour after the vigil ended.
The law office belonging to Gray’s father, Jim Gray, was burned down earlier this week. That sparked unfounded claims on social media that people affiliated with Black Lives Matter would come to Picayune, which led to right-wing militia groups actually descending on the town.
At the vigil, Jones’ family expressed frustration that it had taken a building burning down to bring public attention to Jones’ disappearance, and anger that their search for a loved one had become the target of racist smears and false claims.
“A building getting burned down can be replaced,” said Omar Muhammad, who spoke to the group. “It can be replaced. A life that we are looking for can never be replaced.”
Coleman said the rumors and militia activity had created anxiety ahead of the event.
“We can’t just enjoy a peaceful community gathering because we gotta worry about is someone going to do something crazy, or if the police are going to react out of fear,” she said.
Jones, Coleman said, was goofy and sweet, someone who would give you the shirt off his back. He had been friends with Gray, and practically everyone else in town, because they all grew up together. When she heard he was missing, she assumed someone from out of town had to have been involved. She was shocked to learn the police seemed to suspect locals.
At the vigil, Coleman’s brother, Maurice, announced plans for another search, starting the next morning. Jones’ family and friends had spent hours looking for him on Saturday.
“We just want to bring my brother home, we want to bring Chill home,” Jones said. “There are a couple of spots I’ve been told about that we’re going to search. We’re not going to stop until we find him.”
Militia response
As Jones’ loved ones gathered in the park, dozens of people affiliated with the Deep South U.S. Militia, based in Petal, and other groups assembled in a parking lot near the Picayune Police Department, less than half a mile away. Josh Hancock, the group’s founder, said that they had come to protect Picayune.
Hancock said he had gotten “intel” on the threats from his “research and development team.” He had heard that local businesses were going to be torched to the ground. Sitting in his car as the rain that had threatened all through Jones’ ceremony poured down, he gestured at a pastry shop across the street that he had heard might be burned down. But there was no sign of violence, or any activity other than a gathering to remember Jones.
It was unclear on Wednesday how the rumors of violence had started before they spread across Facebook, and how they had taken off with no evidence. Unfounded fears of violence associated with Black Lives Matter protests have spread around the country in recent weeks, including in Biloxi at Beauvoir, sometimes leading to armed responses to non-existent threats. Militia groups have also been a presence at racial justice demonstrations around the country.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 11:33 PM.
