According to Kosciusko Police Chief Herbert Dew, the Christmas Eve shooting at Cannonade Apartments that took the life of Sallis resident Marshall Washington, 37, was the result of a road rage incident.
“It was senseless. To my knowledge they (the suspects) didn’t know him (the victim) and he didn’t know them,” said Dew Friday. “It’s one of those road rage incidents.”
Washington was reportedly driving a vehicle toward the apartment complex around 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve. His vehicle was behind one driven by a juvenile in which Ickom, 18, and Partee, 23, were passengers.
The three in the suspect vehicle apparently felt that Washington was following too closely and when the driver pulled over to let him pass, Washington’s vehicle allegedly passed the suspect’s vehicle quickly and eventually proceeded into the parking lot.
After their vehicle also came to a stop in the parking lot, Ickom and Partee exited their vehicle and confronted Washington. The driver of the suspect vehicle did not exit the vehicle and is not charged in the incident.
Both Ickom and Partee were armed, Dew said, but it was Ickom who shot Washington during the verbal altercation.
“I don’t think any of them thought it would escalate to the point it did,” said Dew.
On Friday, the two suspects were brought into the Kosciusko Municipal courtroom individually for arraignment.
Judge L. Scott Pickle appointed public defender Rosalind Jordan to represent Ickom. Ickom asked if he could choose a different attorney, but Pickle told him that defendants do not get to select their public defenders.
“You don’t get to choose,” said Pickle.
After Ickom was escorted out, Partee was led into the courtroom for his arraignment.
Partee indicated he expected his family might hire legal counsel for him, but when Pickle determined that Partee himself could not afford to hire representation, he appointed public defender Richard Carter to Partee’s case.
“If you do get one hired, they can take over,” Pickle told him before he, too, was immediately led from the courtroom.
The suspects are being held on $250,000 bond each and they are scheduled for preliminary hearings January 23.
