A Starkville man is dead after being shot near the West Main Arms Apartments near downtown Friday.
Oktibbeha County Assistant Coroner Billy Miller identified the victim as Joseph Turnipseed Jr., 33, Starkville police found Turnipseed’s body in a vehicle near the intersection of West Main Street and South Long Street just after 10 p.m. Friday, after responding to a call of shots fired.
Miller declined to confirm where Turnipseed was wounded. He said Turnipseed’s body has been sent to the state crime lab in Jackson for an autopsy.
SPD Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady said the incident, which police are treating as a homicide, remains under active investigation. No arrest had been made in the case as of Saturday night.
A shocked neighborhood
The apartment complex sits surrounded by single-family homes. Residents in the homes nearby were stunned to see the shooting happen in their normally-quiet neighborhood. Several residents told The Dispatch they heard multiple gunshots on Friday night.
One resident, who did not want to be identified, said the West Main Street Association has discussed neighborhood safety in recent meetings. She said Friday’s shooting only highlights the need for those discussions.
“We had hoped something like this wouldn’t happen,” she said. “We will discuss this at our next meeting. We’re deeply concerned about what’s happening in our neighborhood.”
The resident said the area surrounding the apartment complex is an old, established neighborhood that’s home to many senior citizens. She said many of the residents are second-generation homeowners, after their parents or grandparents built the homes.
Lawrence Taylor, another resident, said he fell asleep before the incident and wasn’t aware of anything out of the ordinary until he woke up just before 1 a.m.
“I woke up and looked out the window and there were a lot of police outside,” Taylor said. “They had a car they were taking away. I didn’t know what was happening — I thought they had stopped somebody and were towing them away.”
Another resident on West Main Street, who also did not want to be named, said he and his wife didn’t know about the incident until Saturday morning, as police remained on scene and canvassed the area. He said they’ve lived in their home for about 30 years and haven’t had any problems with safety in the area until recently.
“I like to go walking and my daughter has always been skeptical of me walking in the late evenings,” he added. “Now it’s making me want to stay closer to home.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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