By John Howell

Investigators have in custody all suspects believed to have been responsible for Monday night’s succession of shootings, Batesville Police Department Chief Tony Jones said Thursday.

Corey Henderson died and Darrius Johnson was wounded by a man who unleashed a fusillade of bullets at a Patterson Street home. Dustin Armstrong was hit in the leg by gunfire in an unrelated robbery attempt at West Ridge Apartments.

A sister of the murder victim told a Memphis TV news station that her brother had sent her a text message right before he was shot, alerting her that he was in danger and naming the man officers soon took into custody as a person of interest in their investigation.

Officers had arrested Aundricus Lee Draper by early Tuesday. 

On Wednesday, officers arrested Devonta Pride, 19, and Derrick Morning, 21, both of Batesville and charged them with armed robbery and aggravated assault in the attempted West Ridge Apartment robbery that left Dustin Armstrong with extensive injuries to his leg from a gunshot wound.

Pride and Morning were caught when an Everette Street resident went to her car and found them sleeping inside.

“She called us and the chase was on,” Batesville Police Department Chief Tony Jones said. BPD officers, including a canine unit, were quickly joined by deputies from the Panola County Sheriff’s Department and officers of the U. S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, combing neighborhoods from Jackson Street to Van Voris. Officers then pulled back to give the suspects time to feel like the pursuit had been halted, a deputy told The Panolian.

Soon a deputy received a tip that the suspects had entered a home on Noble Street. There they were taken into custody about 10:30 a.m., Chief Jones said.

The police chief and sheriff’s department investigators said that information provided in tips from the public allowed officers to move quickly to apprehend suspects in both shootings.

Jones also said that quick response from Sheriff Dennis Darby  and deputies allowed the two crime scenes to be secured simultaneously as investigators from both departments gathered evidence and interviewed witness.

The police chief also expressed appreciation to the friends, family and neighbors at both locations following the shootings for  cooperation with officers as they secured evidence and conducted interviews.