Second person charged with shooting up Tupelo house
Police say the case started Thursday April 17 when officers responded to North Church Street on a call that a house had been struck by gunfire. The occupants of the house told police that multiple bullets struck and entered their home. The gunfire had also damaged a car at the address. Two days later, a vehicle on North Church Street was found to have been struck by gunfire from the previous incident.
During the course of investigation, multiple suspects were identified, and warrants were issued for their arrest.
The first suspect was arrested after police stopped a car on Holmes Street due to a traffic violation on Friday, May 16. While conducting a search of Cameron M. Harris, 18, of Olive Branch, a firearm equipped with a machine gun conversion device (known as a Glock switch) was discovered.
During a traffic stop on Lawndale Drive three days later, Zykius O. Richey, 19, of South Green Street, Tupelo, was arrested after multiple firearms, including one with a Glock switch, were located in the car.
Richey was charged with two counts of attempted aggravated assault, one count of shooting into a dwelling, two counts of shooting into a motor vehicle, and one count of possession of machine gun conversion device.
During his initial appearance, Tupelo Municipal Court Judge Jay Weir ordered Richey to be held without bond.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
40 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
A man and two boys arrested as suspects in Miami carjacking and car vs. building
A 20-year-old and two 15-year-olds were arrested Sunday to end the Little Havana incident that included a Hyundai smashed into the corner of a building. Before the crash, arrest reports say, Axel Padilla and his two teen teammates surprised a boyfriend and girlfriend in the back seat of a Hyundai Elantra parked at 1780 SW Fifth St. just before 2 a.m. The trio, all in ski masks, produced handguns and demanded the couple's possessions and the car. While the victims talked with police, the arrest report said, the stolen Hyundai passed by about 100 feet away as it went south on Southwest 18th Avenue. Trailed by yells of 'That's my car!' officers ran to their cruisers to follow the Hyundai. They eventually found it, doors open like wings, crashed into the corner of an empty commercial building at Southwest 22nd Avenue and Fourth Street. Padilla was found at 2211 SW Fifth St., the report said, along with the victims' wallets, a black hoodie seen on surveillance video of the carjacking and the crash-and-run and a Glock handgun. The teens were found in the backyard of 2260 SW Fourth St. with a blue hoodie with white flower designs seen on the aforementioned surveillance video and a black ski mask.
Chicago Tribune
4 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Judge orders Wisconsin school shooter's father to stand trial on charges he allowed access to guns
MADISON, Wis. — The father of a Wisconsin school shooter must stand trial on charges he allowed her access to the guns she used in the deadly attack, a court commissioner ruled Thursday, rejecting arguments that he didn't know she was considering violence and didn't physically hand her the weapons at the school. Dane County Court Commissioner John Rome issued the order in Jeffrey Rupnow's case after a preliminary hearing, a routine step in the criminal justice process in which a court official decides whether enough evidence exists to order a trial. Rupnow, 43, faces two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 18 years in prison. Rupnow's 15-year-old daughter, Natalie Rupnow, opened fire in December at Abundant Life Christian School, a religious school she attended in Madison. She killed teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old old student Rubi Vergara and wounded six others before she shot herself in the head. Investigators recovered a 9 mm Glock handgun from the room where Natalie Rupnow died as well as a .22-caliber Sig Sauer pistol from a bag the girl was carrying. Also in the bag were three magazines loaded with .22 ammunition and a 50-round box of 9 mm ammunition. Prosecutors charged Jeffery Rupnow in May, alleging in a criminal complaint that he told investigators his daughter was struggling to cope with her parents' divorce and he bought her the guns as way to connect with her. He also told investigators that he kept the guns in a safe but told her the code to unlock it, according to the complaint. The day before the school attack, the complaint says he took the Sig Sauer out of the safe so she could clean it, but he wasn't sure if he put the weapon back in the safe or locked it. A search of Natalie's room netted a six-page document the girl had written entitled 'War Against Humanity,' the complaint said. She started the piece by describing humanity as 'filth' and saying she hated people who don't care and 'smoke their lungs out with weed or drink as much as they can like my own father.' She wrote about how she admired school shooters, how her mother was not in her life and how she obtained her weapons 'by lies and manipulation, and my fathers stupidity.' Rupnow looked on in silence Thursday as his attorney, Lisa Goldman, argued that he acted reasonably. Many Wisconsin parents teach their children how to shoot and Natalie passed a gun safety course, but he still took the extra step of keeping their guns in a safe, she said. Rupnow had no reason to think giving her guns would cause more problems, Goldman said. He didn't know how to access her social media accounts, Natalie rarely let him into her room and her therapy records from 2021 to the spring of 2024 showed no indication of suicidal thoughts, Goldman added. Rupnow told Natalie that the gun safe code was his Social Security number in reverse but never gave her the actual number, Goldman continued. She questioned whether Natalie's mother may have given her the number, pointing out that police never checked her mother's electronic devices. Goldman also argued that the school attack took place outside of Rupnow's parental supervision — he was at his job as a recycling truck driver when Natalie opened fire — and he would have had to hand Natalie the guns at Abundant Life to be criminally liable. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne countered that Goldman should make her arguments at trial, not during a preliminary hearing. Rome said in his order sending Rupnow to trial that giving his daughter guns could amount to giving her the pass code and giving her the Sig Sauer the night before the attack. Rupnow is another in a line of parents to face charges in connection with a school shooting. Last year, the mother and father of a school shooter in Michigan who killed four students in 2021 were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The mother was the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack. The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was arrested in September and faces charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for letting his son possess a weapon. In 2023, the father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors related to how his son obtained a gun license.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Judge orders Wisconsin school shooter's father to stand trial on charges he allowed access to guns
School Shooting Wisconsin MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The father of a Wisconsin school shooter must stand trial on charges he allowed her access to the guns she used in the deadly attack, a court commissioner ruled Thursday, rejecting arguments that he didn't know she was considering violence and didn't physically hand her the weapons at the school. Dane County Court Commissioner John Rome issued the order in Jeffrey Rupnow's case after a preliminary hearing, a routine step in the criminal justice process in which a court official decides whether enough evidence exists to order a trial. Rupnow, 43, faces two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 18 years in prison. Deadly attack at Madison school Rupnow's 15-year-old daughter, Natalie Rupnow, opened fire in December at Abundant Life Christian School, a religious school she attended in Madison. She killed teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old old student Rubi Vergara and wounded six others before she shot herself in the head. Investigators recovered a 9 mm Glock handgun from the room where Natalie Rupnow died as well as a .22-caliber Sig Sauer pistol from a bag the girl was carrying. Also in the bag were three magazines loaded with .22 ammunition and a 50-round box of 9 mm ammunition. Prosecutors charged Jeffery Rupnow in May, alleging in a criminal complaint that he told investigators his daughter was struggling to cope with her parents' divorce and he bought her the guns as way to connect with her. He also told investigators that he kept the guns in a safe but told her the code to unlock it, according to the complaint. The day before the school attack, the complaint says he took the Sig Sauer out of the safe so she could clean it, but he wasn't sure if he put the weapon back in the safe or locked it. Shooter declared a 'War Against Humanity' A search of Natalie's room netted a six-page document the girl had written entitled 'War Against Humanity," the complaint said. She started the piece by describing humanity as 'filth' and saying she hated people who don't care and 'smoke their lungs out with weed or drink as much as they can like my own father.' She wrote about how she admired school shooters, how her mother was not in her life and how she obtained her weapons 'by lies and manipulation, and my fathers stupidity.' Rupnow looked on in silence Thursday as his attorney, Lisa Goldman, argued that he acted reasonably. Many Wisconsin parents teach their children how to shoot and Natalie passed a gun safety course, but he still took the extra step of keeping their guns in a safe, she said. Rupnow had no reason to think giving her guns would cause more problems, Goldman said. He didn't know how to access her social media accounts, Natalie rarely let him into her room and her therapy records from 2021 to the spring of 2024 showed no indication of suicidal thoughts, Goldman added. Rupnow told Natalie that the gun safe code was his Social Security number in reverse but never gave her the actual number, Goldman continued. She questioned whether Natalie's mother may have given her the number, pointing out that police never checked her mother's electronic devices. Goldman also argued that the school attack took place outside of Rupnow's parental supervision — he was at his job as a recycling truck driver when Natalie opened fire — and he would have had to hand Natalie the guns at Abundant Life to be criminally liable. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne countered that Goldman should make her arguments at trial, not during a preliminary hearing. Rome said in his order sending Rupnow to trial that giving his daughter guns could amount to giving her the pass code and giving her the Sig Sauer the night before the attack. Parents charged in school shootings across the country Rupnow is another in a line of parents to face charges in connection with a school shooting. Last year, the mother and father of a school shooter in Michigan who killed four students in 2021 were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The mother was the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack. The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was arrested in September and faces charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for letting his son possess a weapon. In 2023, the father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors related to how his son obtained a gun license. ___ This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Vergara in the fourth paragraph. Solve the daily Crossword
