Caravan of 21 People Arrested, Including Rapper Big Boogie's 'Posse', After Highway Shootings
Approximately 21 people have been arrested in connection to a highway shooting on Thursday. The arrestees include several previous members of Memphis rapper Big Boogie's "posse." They were traveling in vehicles to attend his Thursday night performance in Biloxi.
The rapper was among those arrested, according to Luke Jones, a reporter at WREG-TV.
The shooting in question occurred near Coldwater, Mississippi on Thursday around 12:43 p.m. local time. The victim's vehicle was allegedly fired upon while traveling on Interstate 55. The vehicle then exited the highway to notify and wait for police. The victims' associates told police that the suspected shooters had continued south on the interstate.
The posse is suspected to have been heading to Biloxi where Big Boogie had a Thursday night performance scheduled. The performance was at an event called Blackbeach Kickoff Party at Club Zodiac.
Police then monitored the suspected vehicles and waited for additional support from nearby law enforcement before stopping the vehicles and making arrests.
Officers from the Panola County Sheriff's Office, the Batesville Police Department (BPD), the Senatobia Police Department and the Panola County Sheriff's Department worked with multiple state agencies to create a roadblock and stop the vehicles. The vehicles included three cars and a van, according to the newspaper The Panolian.
Police reportedly surrounded the vehicles with guns drawn and waited several minutes before removing people from them. No shots were fired. Police took two hours to arrest suspects on the side of the highway as other officers searched each arrestee and vehicle.
Police found a firearm, a felony amount of narcotics and sums of cash, according to a report from the Senatobia Police Department. The four vehicles were impounded. The arrestees are being held in the Panola County Jail. Authorities haven't yet revealed their names.
The lead agencies involved in the arrest were the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN). The arrests were also aided by the Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP). The investigation is ongoing.
"I can say that the BPD and the Sheriff's Office provided our full support and we are here to work with all agencies," Panola County Sheriff Shane Phelps said. "A big thank you goes out to all the law enforcement personnel from the MBI, MBN, MHP, and everyone else who participated in this operation. We didn't have much time to get ready, but everyone did a great job."
The "posse" is also believed to have been present at a July 11, 2020 Big Boogie concert where two people were murdered. The two murdered individuals were L.V. Wilbourn and Jasmine Bradshaw, a pregnant woman.
After investigating the 2020 shooting for several weeks, officers eventually identified 20-year-old Sheldon Gibbs as the suspected shooter. Gibbs was arrested in Memphis by U.S. Marshals.
Newsweek contacted the Panola County Sheriff's Department for comment.
