A Monday night shooting at Frank’s Drive-In, a bar on Fifth Street in Meridian, killed one man and hospitalized three others  The death marks the fourth fatal shooting in Meridian since Sept. 29. 

Meridian Police Chief Benny Dubose said Tuesday it appears the shooting started with a plan that went badly, but didn’t reveal more about the investigation.

Dubose said that half of the recent shootings started with heated arguments or personal relationships that went sour and someone pulled a gun, something that no amount of patrols will prevent. 

“There’s no way of knowing when two people are arguing that one of them is going to pull a gun out and shoot the other,” Dubose said. “regardless of how much we patrol that’s not going to stop.”

The deaths of Demetrius Burge and Donnikia Clark, which occurred on Sept. 29 and Oct. 7, respectfully, both stemmed from disagreements, according to police.

Aundre Tubbs and Robert McDonald were arrested and charged in the death of Burge, a shooting police described as retaliation for a shooting one week earlier.

Travis Conner was charged in the death of Clark; Dubose said that shooting appeared to stem from an argument between the two men. 

In a recent Meridian Star online poll, 89 percent of the respondents said they didn’t feel safe in the city.

However, Dubose and Mayor Percy Bland both said residents shouldn’t be afraid in the downtown and business areas. 

“These are not in business districts or downtown, they’re in neighborhoods, including some specific low-income neighborhoods,” Dubose said. “We will continue to patrol aggressively and ask citizens to assist us. It’s as simple as picking up the phone and calling Crimestoppers if you’d like to be anonymous.”

“We have specifically targeted some of these areas… as Chief Dubose said, several of them have been either domestic (situations) or two people who have known each other,” Bland said. “As far as businesses, we are continue to invest a lot of resources in our police department to make sure our citizens in our downtown and business district feel safe.”

Dubose said that Meridian residents have to take ownership of their communities as well.

“People need to take ownership of what occurs in their neighborhoods. If you see something going on, let us know. Don’t think, ‘This doesn’t affect me’ because it affects the entire community,” Dubose said. “We only have approximately 100 officers in a city of 40,000. So, some of the people are going to have to step up.”

Monday’s shooting, which killed one and injured three others, marks the sixth fatal shooting this year, including the death of Warren Gentry in May, which has been ruled as self defense. 

At A Glance

The first fatal shooting of the year in Meridian occurred on New Year’s Day with the death of Jeffery Pope, whose body was discovered at the corner of 16th Street and 16th Avenue. Municipal Court Judge Robbie Jones ruled the man accused in Pope’s death, Aundre Tubbs, couldn’t be held on bond until an indictment due to conflicting testimonies at Tubbs’ preliminary hearing.

On Sept. 29, Demetrius Burge died in what police described as a retaliation for a non-fatal shooting a week before. Aundre Tubbs and Robert McDonald have been charged in that death.

Travis Conner, a suspect in the Oct. 7 shooting of Donnikia Clark, was arrested in  Topkeka, Kansas last week. He hasn’t yet been extradicted to Meridian. 

Tony Wilson died in a fatal shooting last Friday. Dubose said Tuesday the motive in Wilson’s death appeared to be robbery, but more details haven’t been released.