Murder charge filed against suspect in Gulfport case first reported as motorcycle accident

Samuel M. Bridges, 22, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of 23-year-old Quincy Smothers, the Gulfport Police Department said Saturday.

Gulfport police officers found Smothers lying in the roadway, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, when they arrived July 9 at Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street, a department news release said. Officers were responding to a call about a motorcycle accident.

Smothers was pronounced dead at the scene.

Bridges is being held in the Harrison County Adult Detention Center on a bond of $1 million.

Bridges was previously arrested in October 2019 on an armed robbery charge and in August 2016 on a charge of manufacturing synthetic marijuana, according to the Harrison County jail docket.

Anyone with information about the case can contact the Police Department at 228-868-5959 or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 877-787-5898. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers.

Anita Lee

Sun Herald

601-909-0638

Anita, a Mississippi native, graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and previously worked at the Jackson Daily News and Virginian-Pilot, joining the Sun Herald in 1987. She specializes in in-depth coverage of government, public corruption, transparency and courts. She has won state, regional and national journalism awards, most notably contributing to Hurricane Katrina coverage awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Support my work with a digital subscription