In the early evening of December 13, 2017, 23-year-old Dontavious Boatman was found unresponsive inside a white Chevrolet Impala in the 400 block of Forrest Street in Indianola, Mississippi, having suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the left side of his head. Police say at least one bullet entered through the driver’s side back window. Emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.

Investigators concluded the car belonged to Lexus James and that James, not Boatman, appeared to have been the intended target. Authorities traced an argument about an hour before the shooting between James and a man identified as JaShawn Colton. Multiple callers later identified Colton as the shooter, and Colton was arrested early the next morning in Belzoni along with Lamon Cooper and Lorenzo Edwards; a .380 handgun believed to be used in the shooting was recovered.

Twenty-one-year-old JaShawn Colton was charged with first-degree murder; Cooper, 30, and Edwards, 26, were charged as accessories after the fact and later released on bond. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for the following month. If anyone knew Dontavious, Lexus James, or saw activity near Forrest Street that evening, contact investigators with information.