Two more Panola residents have been added to the list of people killed by gunfire this year, putting the county near the top in the state for homicides in 2023.

A Batesville man died from a gunshot wound on Friday, Nov. 10, on Vance St., Early reports said a group of men were gambling shortly before the deadly shooting.

Killed was Calvin White, 21, who lived on Gordon Drive. Arrested later the same day was Barry Louis Flowers, Jr., 23, with an address on Hwy. 51 in Courtland.

Flowers has been charged with murder and was in the county jail Tuesday. Chief of Police Kerry Pittman said investigators have interviewed witnesses and others and the details of the case were still being gathered this week.

A few hours later, Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of shots fired at a residence on Milam Road about 4 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. 

At the scene law enforcement officials found Lonnie Gilliam, 36, had been shot. He succumbed to the injury and was pronounced dead on the scene by Coroner Gracie Grant Gulledge.

Sheriff’s Office investigators said this week they are developing a person of interest based on witness statements, but no arrest had been made Tuesday. Whether the shooting was a targeted hit and gang related, or happened spontaneously, deputies could not say.

The bodies of both victims have been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Jackson. An autopsy is required by Mississippi law in all cases determined to be homicides at the county level.