By Bonnie Culverhouse
A local man who showed up for a court date today (Friday) is behind bars as alleged shooter #6 in the Ewell Park case.
Tyler Thornton, 20, of the 1300 block of Peachtree Road, Dubberly is charged with four counts of attempted second degree murder and illegal use of a weapons during a crime of violence. His bond is set at $1.125 million.
“We’ve been waiting all week to see if he (Thornton) would show up for his Webster Parish Court date today, and he didn’t disappoint,” said Minden Police Chief Jared McIver. “He must not have known we were looking for him because he came for a totally unrelated case.”
McIver said the Ewell Park case has “snowballed” because most of the alleged shooters are wanted on other charges, as well.
This brings the number of Webster Parish suspects to four. Claiborne Parish has two that have been arrested.
“These are two different gangs that were shooting at each other that day at the park,” McIver said. “One is from Webster – TTS (Trained to Step). The other is from Homer. It was a gang rivalry. They are constantly having turf wars.”
McIver said there are spinoffs of TTS, and his department is working hard to shut down all of them.
“We want them to know they are not welcome here,” he said, adding that Ringgold gangs are a problem in Webster, too. “I hope as we continue doing what we are doing, it is going to send a message that they can go and do their gang activities somewhere else.”
In addition to Thornton, others arrested from Webster include the following:
Jaquez Deontae Burdette, 18, of Shell Street, Dixie Inn, was extradited from Arkansas Tuesday where he had been arrested by Southern Arkansas University Police.
Reginald Moore Jr., 19, of Heflin, is charged with 4 counts of attempted second degree murder and 1 count of illegal use of weapons.
Jaylen Teal, 22, of Minden, is charged with four counts of attempted second degree murder and one count of illegal use of a weapon during a crime of violence.
Claiborne Parish yielded these arrests:
Tekeldrick K. Webb, aka K-7, 19, from Haynesville.
“Homer Police pulled him over in a traffic stop,” McIver said. “When they ran his information, they found he was wanted out of Minden for the shooting.”
Webb’s bonds total $500,000.
Jamontae Holyfield, 21, of Homer is charged with 4 counts of attempted second degree murder and 4 counts of carjacking. Holyfield allegedly entered a car with persons who were not involved in the shooting and then demanded to be taken to another location.
Four persons were shot during the permitted event at the city-owned park April 2. None of the injuries were fatal.
McIver said he feels there is only one alleged shooter still on the run.
“We are getting super close to arresting him,” he said.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
