On the morning of June 9, 2019, 20-year-old Lee Barnes III of Hattiesburg was shot during an altercation at a Circle K on Highway 49 in Gulfport. The woman with him, 20-year-old Breanna McClendon of Hattiesburg, is alleged to have shot Barnes. After he was critically wounded, McClendon drove him about 60 miles back to Hattiesburg instead of to a nearby Gulfport hospital. An unidentified bystander at the Gulfport gas station reportedly helped place Barnes into a vehicle; investigators later sought to identify and speak with that person.

Barnes was taken to Merit Health Wesley in Hattiesburg, where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound. The Gulfport Police Department investigated the homicide with assistance from the Hattiesburg Police Department. McClendon was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and was booked into the Harrison County Adult Detention Center with bond set at $500,000. Friends and family were left grieving and seeking answers.

If anyone was at the Circle K that morning or knows who helped put Barnes into the vehicle, does that person have information to share?