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NATCHEZ — Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten responded to a call for assistance from the Fayette authorities Saturday night and headed to help, but not without first making sure Adams County’s “hot spots” were secure.

“I received a call at approximately 10:30 p.m. Saturday from the Fayette Police Department asking for assistance,” Patten said. “I was told everything was going well at Fayette Day until a shooting erupted. Multiple people were shot and they were requesting all the assistance they could get to help render aid, clear out the town and get the situation under control.”

A mass shooting on Main Street in Fayette killed one and injured five others at the end of the Fayette Festival on Saturday. The dead man was identified Sunday as Rayshaude Hudson, 22, the son of Jefferson County Judge Maurice Hudson. Jefferson County Coroner Ricky McDonald released Hudson’s identity.

On Saturday night, Patten said he asked for as many deputies as possible at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office to check in on duty to assist.

“When we began to enter the main highway to head to Jefferson County, we were met with a flood of traffic traveling at a high rate of speed coming into our community,” he said. “We changed plans to take care of our community first. We found parking lots full, gas stations full. We checked our hot spots and cleared those out. We were not going to have any large gatherings here. We continued to disperse crowds around Adams County and the city. We made sure we had enough deputies to take care of Natchez before taking a group with me to Jefferson County to assist with the mass shooting.”

Patten said he and his deputies arrived in Jefferson County at about 11:35 p.m. and went to the hospital there. He said multiple agencies were on scene. They had cleared a highway in order for helicopters to land.

“There were people trying to get injured in personal vehicles to the hospital. Ambulances took as many people as they could,” Patten said. “There was shock, hurt, disbelief on the faces of all of the people. We received a gunshot victim here at Merit Health in Natchez and others were transported to Claiborne and Warren counties.

“There was an overwhelming amount of people out there who were hurt and angry. Law officers from the Highway Patrol, MBI, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. We were all doing the best we could to contain the incident,” Patten said.

He said Adams County officers assisted by making sure the crime scene was roped off.

“We blocked highways and cleared people where the actual shootings happened. The crime unit was enroute and we made sure evidence was preserved,” he said.

Patten said his heart goes out to Fayette Mayor Londell “Rock” Eanochs, Fayette Police Chief Shawn McMiller, Jefferson County Sheriff James Bailey.

“There were only minor incidents during Fayette Day. With that large number of people, everybody was enjoying themselves. This happened as the day was beginning to close out. This shooting put a dark cloud over a bright day. Mayor Eanochs actually stayed around to assist with whatever he could during the investigation,” he said. “Fayette Day is one of those days that is very important for that community and I hate that this kind of negative light has been shed on. Anybody who knows the name of these shooters is asked to please get that information to the proper authorities and help render justice for these families.”