HEIDELBERG, Miss. (WDAM) – A celebration of high school football ended in gunfire and tragedy Friday night at the Heidelberg High School football field.<\/p>\n
Heidelberg Police Chief Cornell White said two people were shot and killed on the high school\u2019s grounds, and at least one more was wounded.<\/p>\n
One victim was discovered on the school\u2019s baseball field, while another died in a tailgating area near the bleachers. <\/p>\n
White said the shooter or shooters remained at large.<\/p>\n
He declined to specify how many suspects law enforcement believed were involved in the shootings.<\/p>\n
He did say that the Heidelberg Police Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation would be the lead agencies.<\/p>\n
MBI agents as well as Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers were on scene, joining officers from Heidelberg and Bay Springs police departments as well as Jasper County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies.<\/p>\n
White said law enforcement intended to spend the rest of Friday night into Saturday morning \u201con the ground,\u201d assisting families, gathering evidence and searching for any connected to the shooting.<\/p>\n
Heidelberg Mayor Robert Barnett said what happened on Friday can not continue to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the unforeseen circumstances, the City of Heidelberg will be in full cooperation with the school district, the sheriff\u2019s department, and we will definitely pursue the person who caused this incident,\u201d Barnett said. \u201cWe will be upholding the law to the fullest because we can not have things like this happen in Heidelberg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to let the townspeople and people in the community and the surrounding areas know that the town of Heidelberg is a safe place. This was an unforeseen incident.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gunplay left onlookers stunned, in shock, crying in the wake of an evening ending in senseless violence.<\/p>\n
A line of marked and unmarked patrol vehicles had been staged, lined up between the high school\u2019s Career Ready Building and the football field.<\/p>\n
While many in the large crowd at Friday\u2019s homecoming football game had left as quickly as possible, some lingered.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement officers tried to keep spectators in motion, moving vehicles that had been caught and blocked in during the chaos.<\/p>\n
The ambulances that answered the 911 calls came and then went, with none remaining on campus as the night stretched out.<\/p>\n
White asked that anyone who had attended Friday\u2019s football game and could offer any information to please contact the Heidelberg Police Department at (601) 787-3322.<\/p>\n
This report will be updated as information becomes available.<\/p>\n