By Billy Davis

Panola County authorities are investigating a pair of weekend shootings in Como in which a Sardis man was shot in the leg.

Two suspects were being questioned Monday afternoon by sheriff’s investigators, said Sheriff Dennis Darby.

Darby said the pair of shootings are believed to be gang-related stemming from a weekend fight at a nightclub in Crenshaw.

“What is fueling this is stupidity and ignorance,” said the sheriff. “There’s no excuse for it.”

The shooting victim was struck in the thigh and transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto by ambulance, said Como Police Chief Fred Boskey.

The police department did not release the name of the victim, who was shot at the Pure gas station located at Highway 51 and Highway 315.

A shots-fired call came from the gas station at 2:47 Sunday afternoon, said Boskey.

A medium-caliber pistol was used at the gas station shooting, said Darby.    

Eight hours earlier, at 6:04 Sunday morning, Como police and sheriff’s deputies responded to a shots-fired call on Taylor Street according to Chief Boskey.

No one was hurt in the brick home at 452 Taylor Street.

At the scene, Boskey said authorities recovered 7.62 caliber cartridges, which are used in AK-47s among other heavy-caliber rifles.

“One bullet passed through a window, a computer desk, an interior wall and lodged in a bathroom wall,” Boskey recounted. “It was fortunate no one was hit.”

Boskey credited Sheriff Dennis Darby for responding to both shootings and said two sheriff’s investigators were also present on the scene.

In an unrelated incident, sheriff’s deputies responded to a Courtland shooting February 28 which was allegedly caused by feuding family members.

Edward Deshawn Ford, of Courtland, has been charged with aggravated assault for allegedly shooting Markevin Ford during an argument, said Sheriff Darby.

Markevin Ford was shot once in the lower leg with a .22 caliber rifle. Edward Ford, 31 and Markevin Ford, 21, are cousins.

The victim was taken by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford. The wound was not life threatening, said the sheriff.

The shooting took place at a mobile home on Wells Street Extended, which is just beyond Courtland’s city limits.

Darby said the small-caliber rifle was stolen and Edward Ford will be charged with possession of a stolen firearm.