On a mid-morning on December 7, 2023, 31-year-old Keenan Draper was fatally shot inside the Corner Store at the intersection of Vance and Pearson Streets in Batesville, Mississippi. Draper, a Black male, had left his vehicle running and entered the store when another individual followed and opened fire; Draper was shot multiple times and died at the scene.

The Batesville Police Department identified and arrested three people in connection with the killing. Jamari Tyrice Barnes, 19, of Tunica, was charged with murder. Two Batesville men, 20-year-old Jaylon Davion Ausborn and 19-year-old Jamaras Marshawn Jefferson, were arrested and charged with accessory after the fact; authorities say they were in the vehicle with Barnes and fled after the shooting. Investigators believe the homicide was a targeted attack.

Draper’s death came a month after his brother, 21-year-old Calvin White, was killed in a similar shooting on Vance Street on November 11; the suspect in White’s case had been arrested and charged the day of that incident and was reportedly out on bond when Draper was killed. The Corner Store area had been identified by city officials as a concern amid efforts to address high crime on Van Voris and Pearson Streets.

If anyone knew Keenan Draper or has information about what happened at the Corner Store that morning, please come forward.