A late December night in Brooksville, Mississippi, ended in a double homicide when gunfire struck a vehicle parked at a U.S. 45 convenience store. Twenty-four-year-old Nakiren De’arrius Laquan Ratcliff was in the car with 18-year-old Dewanedrian Johnson and a third person when shots were fired at about 11:20 p.m. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene. Ratcliff was critically injured, airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, and died of his wounds on December 4, 2021. The third occupant was also wounded.

The Noxubee County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation handled the case. In October 2022 two men, Jaquraus Wells and Kendal Thomas, were arrested and charged in connection with the shooting; charges included two counts of capital murder for each man along with aggravated assault, and Thomas also faced a drive-by-shooting charge. Bond amounts were reported for both men.

Ratcliff was born January 28, 1997, graduated from Noxubee County High School, attended Itawamba Community College, worked for the United States Postal Service and part time at a convenience store, and was the father of a son and a daughter. Does anyone have information about that night or knew the victims?