On May 18, 2025, 29-year-old Jermonte Marquis Barnes of Jayess was shot multiple times inside Youngstown Plaza on Summit-Holmesville Road in McComb and pronounced dead at the scene by the Pike County Coroner. Barnes was born October 22, 1995, in McComb.

The Pike County Sheriff’s Department identified 22-year-old Anthony Butler Jr. of McComb as the suspect and described him as armed and dangerous. Investigators said the search expanded to Butler’s family after the shooting; his mother, 39-year-old Laterica Carr of McComb, was arrested and charged with accessory after the fact of first-degree murder and hindering prosecution. Butler’s stepfather, 43-year-old Billy Dee Carr, was also accused of assisting Butler by hiding the weapon and helping him leave town and faced a charge of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.

After a multi-state manhunt, Anthony Butler Jr. surrendered in Arlington, Texas, the Tuesday after the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder; authorities recovered a handgun from a ditch on Higgins Drive the same day and submitted it for ballistic testing. Barnes’s family later told county officials they felt uninformed about the investigation’s progress.

Did anyone in the McComb area see activity around Youngstown Plaza or Higgins Drive on or shortly after May 18, 2025?