9 killed in separate shootings as Mississippi schools celebrate homecoming

High school homecoming celebrations in Mississippi ended in gunfire, with two separate shootings on opposite sides of the state Friday night that left at least eight people dead and many more injured, authorities said.

LELAND, Miss. — School homecoming celebrations in Mississippi ended in gunfire, with separate shootings on opposite sides of the state Friday and Saturday night that left at least nine people dead and many more injured, authorities said.

Six were killed in downtown Leland after a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region on the state's western edge, according to the county coroner. South of Leland, one person died in a shooting at Alcorn State University, state authorities said. On the east side of the state, a pregnant woman was among the dead, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said.

In Leland, four people were killed and two died later at a hospital, according to a statement from Washington County Coroner La'Quesha Watkins.

Some 20 people were injured in the gunfire after people gathered in the downtown area following the game, state Sen. Derrick Simmons said. Of those, four were in critical condition and were flown from a hospital in nearby Greenville to a larger medical center in the state capital, Jackson, Simmons told The Associated Press. He was being updated on developments from law enforcement authorities in the Delta.

On Saturday, pieces of tattered, yellow crime scene tape were wrapped around a pole in the city's tiny downtown area. The police tape could also be seen in front of a boarded-up storefront, tangled up at the base of a sign commemorating the late soul singer Tyrone Davis, who was born nearby.