Two men, each of whom sustained multiple gunshot wounds during an altercation at the Exxon Blue Sky station on Highway 12 in Kosciusko, were airlifted to UMMC overnight. A former Sallis resident currently serving in the military has been arrested and faces two charges of aggravated assault in the case.
Dennis Horton II, 19, a black male from Fayetteville, NC, turned himself into Kosciusko police at 10 a.m. this morning and posted $50,000 bond per aggravated assault charge and was released from custody. Horton was reportedly here on leave from active military service, though whether or not he was assigned to Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, NC, is unconfirmed at this time.
According to Chief Herbert Dew, the department received a call at 11:56 p.m. Thursday, June 18, reporting a shooting at the Exxon Blue Sky gas station on Highway 12 in Kosciusko. They learned that two victims, each of whom had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, had transported themselves to Baptist Memorial Hospital - Attala, and were later transferred to UMMC. They are Kenwon Riley, 19, and Kahara Haynes, 20, both black males from Kosciusko. The medical status of the two men is also unknown at this time.
Witnesses indicate that Horton and one of the eventual shooting victims were present at the station, but did not speak initially. Horton remained at the station while the other man departed, returning with a second individual in his vehicle.
"There was an alteraction. They all knew each other and it's likely there were some ongoing problems between them from the past," Dew told The Star-Herald Friday afternoon. "Both of them (who were shot) should be dead. The wounds I saw - one was hit twice center mass and the other was hit in the side what appeared to be three times."
Approximately 20 rounds were fired from three seperate firearms, according to Dew. Two of those firearms, an AR15-style rifle and a handgun, were in Horton's possession, with the third weapon, a handgun, in possession of one of the individuals injured in the incident. Horton did not suffer any gunshot wounds, though he was reportedly fired upon. The vehicles of both the alleged shooter and one of the victims were hit by bullets, as was a gas pump and the side wall of the car wash at the gas station.
According to Dew, the case remains under investigation and more charges may be forthcoming.
