Two white men have been charged after a Black FedEx driver alleged that the duo chased him down and shot at his delivery van.
D’Monterrio Gibson, 24, said that he was delivering a package on 24 January in Brookhaven, when he saw a white pickup truck driving towards him, reported Mississippi Free Press on Friday.
“In my mind I’m thinking (the driver) is leaving to go to the store or something like that, but then they get extremely close to me and start blowing their horn,” Mr Gibson said.
“I proceed to leave the driveway. As I’m leaving the driveway, he starts driving in the grass trying to cut me off. My instincts kick in, I swerve around him, and I start hitting the gas trying to get out of the neighbourhood because I don’t know what his intentions are.
“I drive down about two or three houses. There’s another guy standing in the middle of the street pointing a gun at my windows and signalling to me to stop with his hands, as well as mouthing the word, ‘stop.’
“I shake my head no, I hide behind the steering wheel, and I swerve around him as well. As I swerve around him, he starts firing shots into my vehicle.”
Mr Gibson said that he lost the duo only when he reached the interstate highway.
He said that the police did not take him seriously when he attempted to report the incident and said that they had received a report of a “suspicious person” at the address.
“I reached dispatch and let him know what was going on, and I only had a chance to get a little of the story out when he cut me off and he was like, ‘Were you at this address?’ I said ‘yes’.”
“He was like, well I just got a call of a suspicious person at this address. I was like, ‘Sir, I’m not a suspicious person, I work for FedEx. I was just doing my job.’”
Police said that the duo who chased Mr Gibson had turned themselves in on 1 February.
They had been identified as Gregory Case, who allegedly drove the pickup truck, and his son Brandon Case who allegedly fired the shots.
The duo have been charged with conspiracy and aggravated assault respectively.
They posted bail on $75,000 and $150,000 bonds, respectively.
Mr Gibson’s attorney Carlos Moore said on Friday that more serious charges, including hate crime charges, are warranted in what they believe was a racially motivated assault.
“I want both of them charged with attempted murder,” Mr Moore was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Mr Moore told the Mississippi Free Press the case echoed that of Ahmaud Arbery, who was murdered by three white men while jogging in Georgia.
He said: “It’s just sad that it happens. It seems to be a copycat duo copying off the Ahmaud Arbery case. …. They saw this man was a Black man, and they just hauled off and shot at him multiple times, at least the younger son did. The older guy tried to entrap him. They were working concertedly to try to entrap and kill this man. I mean, they shot at him several times. It’s amazing that he survived.”
