An 18-year-old Columbus man is behind bars after police say he opened fire on a vehicle carrying two people as they tried to flee a heated altercation at an apartment complex on Brooks Road on September 6. Ricardo Cunningham Jr. now faces two felony counts of aggravated assault, and investigators say the case is far from closed.
Police responded to reports of shots fired at 501 Brooks Road, according to The Dispatch, which first reported the arrest. The outlet, citing Sgt. Nicholas Hairston, reported that an altercation led to Cunningham allegedly firing at the vehicle, which sustained damage from the gunfire. Hairston said he did not know the exact time the shooting occurred, and no one inside the vehicle was injured, per police.
The property at 501 Brooks Road is a multi-family residential complex made up of two-bedroom rental apartments, according to listings from Swoope Real Estate and Property Management. It's not the first time law enforcement has been called to that address — the Commercial Dispatch itself reported back in 2012 that a resident there was arrested on a charge of possession of stolen property.
What Police Say Happened During the Confrontation
Additional details about the sequence of events emerged in reporting by WCBI, which detailed that police responded to Brooks Road after learning the vehicle's two occupants were actively trying to drive away from the confrontation when the gunfire started. The Columbus Police Department said in a press release that it expects additional arrests in the case, and the outlet's report noted the department made one arrest connected to the Sunday shooting.
Cunningham is from Columbus and is being held at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. As of Tuesday, his bond had not yet been set. The detention center is described in Lowndes County Sheriff's Office records as a 288-bed facility that serves as the county's primary adult holding facility.
Facing Up to 40 Years Behind Bars
Under Mississippi law, aggravated assault is punishable by up to 20 years in state prison per count, according to Miss. Code § 97-3-7. With two counts on the books, Cunningham could theoretically face up to 40 years in prison if convicted on both charges.
Regional court outcomes offer a sense of how similar cases have played out. WCBI reported in March that a defendant in neighboring Noxubee County Circuit Court was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with eight years suspended, after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for shooting at an occupied vehicle where no one was physically hurt — a case with clear parallels to the Brooks Road shooting given the lack of injuries involved.
Not the First Vehicle-Targeted Shooting in Columbus
This kind of confrontation isn't unheard of in Columbus apartment settings. Two Columbus men were charged with aggravated assault after allegedly blocking in and shooting at a driver inside the Yorkville Apartments, a similar case of vehicle-targeted gunfire tied to an ongoing dispute.
Broader crime data from the Commercial Dispatch shows aggravated assault reports within Columbus city limits fell from 86 in 2015 to 50 in 2017 as police targeted violent crime hot spots. Whether that downward trend has held in the years since remains unclear from available reporting.
New Police Leadership Overseeing the Investigation
The investigation is unfolding under new leadership at the Columbus Police Department. WCBI reported in July that Garland Ward was appointed police chief, succeeding former Chief Joseph Daughtry Sr. following Daughtry's departure earlier that month.
Police are asking anyone with information about the Brooks Road shooting to contact the Columbus Police Department at 662-244-3500 or Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at 1-800-530-7151. With police already signaling that more arrests could follow, the investigation into what triggered the gunfire on Brooks Road remains active.
