On Saturday afternoon April 24, 2021, 16-year-old Lakendric Cortez Francis of Canton, Mississippi, was shot and killed while driving a black four-door Infiniti sedan southbound on Interstate 55 in Ridgeland. The shooting occurred around 1:30 p.m.; Francis died at the scene. An adult passenger in his car sustained minor injuries and was treated at a hospital and released the same day.

Investigators concluded the attack was connected to a dispute that began before the freeway encounter rather than a random act of road rage. Authorities from multiple agencies — including Ridgeland Police, Madison Police, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Canton Police, Jackson Police, and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force — worked the case. Two other teenagers were arrested; Marcus Luckett, 15 at the time, was identified as the shooter and charged with murder, and 16-year-old Kevin Harris was charged with accessory after the fact. A tan Chevrolet Malibu believed to be the suspect vehicle was recovered and seized in Jackson. Reports indicate Luckett had been wounded in a separate shooting about a month earlier, a conflict investigators believe was tied to the motive.

Did anyone in the area know Lakendric or have information about the dispute that led to the shooting?