A late-night argument in Macon, Mississippi ended in deadly gunfire. Michael Ratchet Taylor, a 32-year-old Black self-employed mechanic and father, was shot multiple times during an altercation on Martin Luther King Drive on the night of Saturday, November 4, 2023. He was taken to Noxubee General Hospital but died in the early hours of November 5.

A 16-year-old was also wounded in the shooting and was airlifted to a hospital in Jackson. The person alleged to have fired the shots, 29-year-old Maxi Chandler, contacted 911 shortly after the incident and surrendered to the Macon Police Department. Chandler was charged with one count of murder in Taylor’s death and one count of aggravated assault for the injured teenager and was booked into the Noxubee County jail. Bond was set at $225,000.

Taylor’s funeral was held at Tabernacle M.B. Church and he was buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery. If anyone has information about the events on Martin Luther King Drive that night, please share what you know.