Three sentenced in deadly mass shooting at New Year’s Eve party on Mississippi Coast
The prosecution of some of the remaining defendants in a high-profile mass shooting that killed four men at a packed New Year’s Eve party in 2021 came to an end Thursday with the sentencing of three more defendants in the case.
Latavion Bland, 23; Vincent Armstrong, 21; and Mario Clark, 26; each pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of mayhem in July as some of the last of six defendants convicted in connection with the shootings, which shattered a Gulfport neighborhood with gunfire.
The shootings resulted in the deaths of Nathaniel Harris, 52; Sedrick McCord, 28; Corey Dubose, 23; and Aubrey Lewis, 22. Three others sustained non-life-threatening wounds.
The shootings occurred in a crowd of over 100 people gathered at the party on Lewis Avenue. Gulfport received the report of the shootings just before midnight, Dec. 31, 2021, according to lead prosecutor Ian Baker. At the scene, police found over 100 spent shell casings in the streets and on the front lawn of the home.
Bland and Armstrong admitted shooting into the crowd during their plea hearings. Armstrong admitted to shooting a vehicle, and Clark admitted he lied to police to cover for Armstrong, his brother.
Judge Christopher Schmidt sentenced Bland to 5 years in prison for the mayhem charge to run consecutive to a six-year sentence he is serving in an unrelated aggravated assault case. The sentence includes credit for time served.
Armstrong is sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison, with 20 years suspended and five years to serve with credit for time served for mayhem and shooting into a motor vehicle in the New Year’s Eve case and an unrelated drug charge. The judge fined him $2,000.
The judge sentenced Clark to a 10-year suspended prison sentence, with five years to serve on post-release supervision on charges of mayhem and hindering prosecution in the Gulfport shootout and an additional charge of failure to stop by for law enforcement or felony fleeing in an unrelated case.
All three defendants sentenced Thursday declined to offer any statement to the judge before sentencing.
In interviews with police, witnesses and victims of the shooting “refused to provide the full truth of what happened on that deadly evening,” Baker said in an earlier release.
However, he said, Gulfport detectives pieced together the facts. In the beginning, adults attended the party. But in the hours just before midnight, two groups of young people from separate neighborhoods showed up. Tensions between the two groups of young people escalated throughout the night, witnesses told police.
Aubrey Lewis of Bay St. Louis began to fistfight in the middle of Lewis Avenue with Corey Dubose of Gulfport, the District Attorney’s office said. They fell on Sedrick McCord’s car. Witnesses told police McCord stepped out of the car and fired a pistol once into the air. Lewis and Dubose pulled out firearms at the same time and shot and killed each other.
Preston then shot and killed McCord, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Several others, including Bland and Armstrong, then “shot recklessly into the crowd gathered around the fight.”
Harris was found dead in the street.
Isavian Preston pleaded guilty last December to manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He received a 30 year sentence that will run consecutively with an 8 year sentence he is currently serving.
Khalid Williams, 29, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon in relation to the shooting. He was sentenced to 12 years to serve consecutive to an 8 year sentence he is currently serving.
Breanna Riley, 26, pleaded guilty in June to hindering the prosecution of a felon. and was sentenced to five years of non-adjudicated probation.
Bobby Hands , 30, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and was sentenced to 10-year suspended sentence followed by five years of post-release supervision. Hands is currently serving a sentence of eight years after his probation was revoked for a previous drug conviction in Jackson County.
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 1:38 PM.
