Fifteen-year-old Denarius Hayes was shot at the Brandon Arms Apartments on Highway 467 in Edwards, Mississippi on the evening of July 14, 2023. He was struck multiple times, taken to a local hospital, then airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. After ten days, he died from his injuries.

Investigators quickly identified suspects and made several arrests. A 17-year-old, Raymond Townsend, was initially charged with aggravated assault; after Hayes’s death that charge was upgraded to murder and Townsend was charged as an adult. Four more people — 20-year-old Keith Lee, 19-year-old Demarcus Mixon, 21-year-old Justin Campbell, and 21-year-old Kanaya Jones — were later arrested and charged with murder. All five were booked into the Raymond Detention Center.

No definitive motive has been released; the victim’s mother said she believed the shooting may have grown out of a dispute that began during the school year. Does anyone have information about Denarius, the Brandon Arms Apartments, or the events that led up to that July evening?