‘Our hearts are broken.’ Mississippi Coast mom says teenage son killed in a ‘setup’
At 17, Keontae Colbert had big dreams.
The Gautier High School senior planned to attend college and later work as a machinist at Ingalls Shipbuilding.
A gunshot wound shattered those dreams.
On Monday night, Jackson County sheriff’s deputies discovered the teen’s body on Wildwood Road in the Escatawpa community. He had been shot and killed, Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd Jr. said.
His mother, Martina Pratt, said her son thought he was with friends. She said she tried to stop him before he left the home after school Monday because she didn’t want him to take a gun he had bought some time earlier with him for the ride.
“He left before I could catch him,” she said.
Pratt said her son thought he needed the Draco 9 mm pistol for protection, but his mother was in the process of trying to rid him of the weapon.
Instead, she said, her son thought he was going to trade or sell his gun for another one to at least one of those accused in his homicide.
“It was a setup,” his mom said. “It was a bad gun deal.”
Jackson County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the teen’s death.
Deputies arrested Michael Todd Ward Jr., 17, of Moss Point, on a charge of murder in the killing. They charged a second teen, Kenta Derrell McCann, 18, of Gautier, with accessory to murder. Both teens, charged as adults, remained jailed in Jackson County.
Meanwhile, Pratt and Colbert’s three other older siblings — Antonio Pratt, 23, Olan Pratt, 20, and Aaliyah Colbert, 19 — are struggling to process their shock and grief.
“He had such a big heart and his whole life ahead of him,” his mother said. He loved playing video games and being with his friends and siblings. He also had a girlfriend that he loved dearly, and he loved to play with his niece.”
For now, Pratt said she and her family are holding on to precious memories. There’s one his mother said she’ll always hold close to her heart.
Before school Monday, Keontae had a question for his mom.
“He asked me if I would be his Valentine,” she said. “I told him, ‘You know, I will always be your Valentine.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.
After Colbert’s death, the Pascagoula-Gautier School District addressed the loss.
“Our hearts are broken over the loss of Gautier High School senior Keontae Colbert, and our thoughts are with his family and friends,” the statement said. “The Pascagoula-Gautier School District and Gautier High School are focusing on the safety and well-being of students and staff.”
PGSD said the school district is offering support to staff and students to deal with the loss.
Keontae Colbert is the second student in Gautier to die unexpectedly this year.
Shermarion Miner, 15, a sophomore at Gautier High School, collapsed in the high school field house just before classes ended on Jan. 9. Miner had been lifting weights during a routine workout at the school. An autopsy showed that Miner died of a pulmonary embolism.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 4:13 PM.
