There have been 4 shootings at Ocean Springs bars in the last 6 months. Here’s the list.

A mass shooting at an Ocean Springs restaurant’s Cinco de Mayo party left one teenager dead and six others injured and has prompted a flood of response on social media across the Mississippi Coast.

Chayse Harmon, 19, died Friday night at The Scratch Kitchen after being shot in the chest.

The shooter was not a patron at the party and instead climbed over the patio wall to gain access to the restaurant, Scratch Kitchen owner Brittany Alexander told the Sun Herald.

The restaurant is still considered a crime scene and the restaurant has not yet reopened.

The shooting at the Scratch Kitchen has led to dozens of posts and thousands of comments in the Ocean Springs Talk of the Town Facebook group, as well as other sites on social media.

Many are asking about how many shootings have occurred in downtown recently, and responses are skewed, leading to what could be a spread of misinformation.

The Scratch Kitchen mass shooting also prompted community members to ask the Sun Herald to provide more information on recent shootings to provide clarity to readers.

Here’s a list of shootings reported at Ocean Springs bars, restaurants and nightlife venues since November 2022, according to Sun Herald archives. It’s important to note that three of the shootings occurred at bars less than a block away. The other shooting was less than a half-mile from downtown.

• Two shot outside Ocean Springs daiquiri bar: A 21-year-old Gulfport man was arrested on two aggravated assault charges after two people were shot outside of Ocean Springs Daiquiri Company on Nov. 12. The alleged shooter, Jeremy Liberto, is accused of getting into a fight with one of the victims inside the Washington Avenue bar before returning a short time later with a gun, Ocean Springs police told the Sun Herald at the time.
• Fatal shooting at Kahuna-OS: A 34-year-old Ocean Springs man was shot dead after a fight outside of the popular karaoke bar on Bienville Boulevard, less than a half-mile from downtown. William Burnett Oliver of Ocean Springs was arrested on a murder charge in that case. The shooting that claimed the life of Chase Galloway occurred on Nov. 25, two weeks after the shooting at the daiquiri bar.
• Man shot in the leg in a public parking lot: A man accidentally shot himself in the leg in a public parking lot across the street from the Ocean Springs restaurant during a Black spring break after party. This shooting was not related to a mass shooting earlier that day in Biloxi that injured five people, dispelling rumors that circulated on Facebook at the time.
• Mass shooting at Cinco de Mayo party: Seven were shot and one died in the “intentional act” shooting at The Scratch Kitchen on Government Street. A suspect has been arrested on a murder charge in the case, although police have not revealed that person’s identity to the public.

Sun Herald journalists Margaret Baker, Mary Perez, Hannah Ruhoff and Justin Mitchell contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 9, 2023 at 12:05 PM.