Natchez police investigating homicide

Published 5:29 pm Monday, December 22, 2014

NATCHEZ — Natchez police are investigating the death of a 37-year-old man who was shot and killed near his house early Sunday morning.

Orinthia Bailey, 37, was found dead on Itasca Drive at approximately 1 a.m. Sunday after police received a call from a nearby resident saying they heard a loud shot, Natchez Police Department Detective Jerry Ford said.

Preliminary autopsy results showed Bailey was shot once in the hip. Ford said investigators found a shell casing from a .45-caliber handgun near Bailey’s body.

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Investigators are treating the case as a homicide, Ford said, but don’t have many witnesses at the moment.

“We just don’t have a lot of leads on this right now, because no one was really around when it happened,” Ford said. “The caller who called it in just said they heard a loud shot, and when they went down the road that saw someone laying in the street.”

Ford said Bailey lived in the area and could have been walking home when he was shot.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call Crime Stoppers at 601-442-5000. Crime stoppers offers a reward of up to $1,000 for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect.