UPDATE: Police: Shooting near school not intentional

Published 5:37 pm Tuesday, October 26, 2021

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NATCHEZ — Natchez Police are investigating a round fired from a shotgun that hit an upper corner of a classroom window at Cathedral School on Tuesday morning.

Natchez Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said his office got a call at about 9:20 a.m. of a shot being fired near the school, which is located at 701 Martin Luther King Jr. St. Daughtry said the shot came from the Martin Luther King Jr. Street area. No one was hurt during the incident, but the school was put on lockdown and school officials cleared it quickly.

Daughtry said his officers are canvassing the area but have no suspects.

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“Based on my experience, I don’t think this was an intentional shooting. I think it was a random shot someone fired because of the direction of the round as well as where it hit,” he said.

The window was struck in its top corner. Daughtry said a shot fired intentionally would have hit the window much lower.

“That’s still preliminary. We are still investigating and asking for leads. Anyone who knows anything is asked to contact us or call crime stoppers at 888-442-5001.

“It irritates me that these children were where they were supposed to be, doing what they were supposed to be doing and this happens. We have already increased patrols around all of our schools in Natchez because I’m sure this makes all parents nervous. We will do the best we can do to help keep our children safe,” Daughtry said.

He also commended the staff and administration at Cathedral School for how they handled the incident.

“They did a great job with the lockdown. When the school officials realized what transpired, they immediately put the school on lockdown. We arrived within minutes because we had a car that had just passed by there. When we arrived, the children were safe. The teachers did a great job of keeping things normal. There was no disarray. Children were still in the process of learning. I think the staff from the maintenance people to the administration did a great job of keeping the children safe and not disrupting their school day,” Daughtry said. “I was a school resource officer for many years and they did a phenomenal job.”