UPDATE: At least six now dead after Leland block party mass shooting

At least 16 people were shot and at least six of those are dead after an incident at a block party following Leland High School homecoming Friday night.

The count was at four dead, but just after 11 a.m., Hinds county Coroner Jeramiah Howard confirmed that a fifth victim, an 18 year-old male, died in a Jackson hospital. Shortly after that, a sixth victim died in Shelby County, Tennessee.

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The block party in the town best known for being the childhood home of Muppets creator Jim Henson happens yearly, ever since the school integrated, which would be around 1970, said Washington County Supervisor Mala Brooks. She was one of a group of people helping clean up the area where the block party took place.

”It’s because we take pride in our city,” she said.

On Saturday, West Main Street was busy too, but in a much different way than it had been Friday night. Instead of people reveling in high school football and being back with old friends, the street was populated by first responders and volunteers. Some were investigating, some were picking up trash.

Some firefighters were washing blood off the road after the events of the night before.

A pile of shoes and personal effects sat on the sidewalk. They seemed to silently tell their own story of people who ran right out of them when the shooting started.

Brooks, who carried a garbage bag and wore blue rubber gloves as she picked up the litter from the night before, said she attends the block party every year, but this year seemed a little different as she said it seemed as if there was a smaller police presence.

Just under 4,000 people at the 2000 census, Leland has a police force of 10 officers. Inside the city they are often backed up by the sheriff’s department. Homicides are few and far between, and everyone knows everyone. Brooks said even those who have moved away and come back for homecoming are familiar faces.

At one point Friday night, Brooks said she saw some young men she didn’t believe were from Leland, and they were carrying backpacks.

“They were the only ones here with backpacks,” she said, adding that it gave her an uneasy feeling. “They stuck out like a sore thumb.”

“And people were just walking around enjoying themselves, not knowing what was about to happen,” she said.

She said that was shortly before 11:50 p.m., and the shooting broke out between then and midnight in the same area where she saw the strangers.

The town recently put in a surveillance camera on that very street, Brooks said, and she hopes authorities will be able to download the video quickly and that it will show the shooter or shooters clearly.

“In Leland, we don’t have this type of problem here,” she said. “Leland is a wonderful place to stay. It’s so unfortunate that people from outside of our community came and shot up our town.”

Leland Police Department have declined to comment and did not have a point of contact. We have also left messages for the Washington County Sheriff.

We will continue to update this story. This is a developing story.