A 27-year-old Louisiana man is now the seventh person charged in connection with a mass shooting that killed two people and wounded seven others outside a Centreville, Mississippi store on July 4. Kelin Moore was arrested before dawn on September 9 at his residence in Jackson, Louisiana, on 19 outstanding Mississippi warrants, including two counts of murder, seven counts of aggravated assault, and 10 counts of drive-by shooting.
The arrest capped a joint operation involving ATF task force officers, Louisiana State Police, and deputies from East and West Feliciana parishes, according to WBRZ. Moore signed a waiver of extradition at the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office jail and was transported directly to the Wilkinson County Jail in Woodville, Mississippi, the station reported. Louisiana State Police, in a release posted to Facebook by its Troop A public affairs office, said its Criminal Investigations Division out of the Baton Rouge Field Office made the arrest and booked Moore into East Feliciana Parish Prison before his transfer.
The July 4 gunfire near Best G's Store and Orchard Café killed 19-year-old Dekevion Andrews and 22-year-old Donavan Jackson, while seven other victims between the ages of 14 and 20 suffered gunshot wounds, per SuperTalk Mississippi. Nine gunshot victims arrived at local emergency rooms in private vehicles following the early-morning shooting, and Southwest Mississippi Regional CrimeStoppers offered a $5,000 reward for information as investigators sought relevant information from people who attended the gathering.
A Manhunt That Stretched Across State Lines
Moore's arrest, along with the September 9 arrest of an unnamed 17-year-old juvenile, brings the total number of suspects charged in the Centreville attack to seven. That follows an initial round of five arrests on July 29 — four suspects captured in Louisiana and a fifth apprehended in Columbus, Ohio, by U.S. Marshals, according to the same SuperTalk Mississippi report. Louisiana State Police's release notes its Baton Rouge Field Office assisted the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation with apprehending suspects connected to the shooting during that July 29 operation.
Five of the seven suspects — Moore, the 17-year-old juvenile, Larry Smith Jr., Kaden Anderson, and Zychavion VanNorman — face identical core charges of two counts of murder, seven counts of aggravated assault, and 10 counts of drive-by shooting, the SuperTalk Mississippi report states. Two other co-defendants, Zavier Augustine and Christian Johnson, were charged with accessory after the fact. Louisiana State Police said additional charges remain pending and that the investigation is ongoing, with the agency continuing to work alongside federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.
Centreville sits on Highway 24 in Wilkinson County, where the shooting occurred, according to United Country Real Estate. The region's reliance on shared local and state task forces helped shape how the case unfolded across two states.
Conversion Devices Seized at Two Louisiana Locations
Beyond the shooting charges, Louisiana State Police detectives developed information that Moore was involved in the distribution and sale of firearm parts and conversion devices. Investigators identified multiple shipments addressed to Moore containing firearm components and pinpointed two locations in Jackson, Louisiana, that he allegedly used for firearm and accessory storage.
On September 9, the Louisiana State Police Special Weapons and Tactics team assisted in executing search warrants at those two locations, a joint effort involving the Criminal Investigations Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and local law enforcement partners. Investigators reported seizing six firearms and multiple firearm components at the two locations, while the agency's release separately described multiple machine gun conversion devices.
Under federal law, a machine gun conversion device — commonly known as a Glock switch — is classified as a machine gun in its own right under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) and 18 U.S.C. § 922(o), making unlicensed possession or distribution unlawful, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Aftermarket auto-sears allow a gun to fire continuously with a single trigger pull, turning a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon.
Machine Gun Conversion Devices
The article also discusses machine gun conversion devices.
Federal agencies like the ATF assisted in the investigation involving the devices.
Anyone with information can contact Trooper Shelby Mayfield, the Louisiana State Police Public Affairs Section contact for Troop A, at (225) 921-1384 or [email protected]. Louisiana State Police said it continues to seek the identification and apprehension of individuals involved in violent criminal activity as well as the illegal possession and distribution of firearm conversion devices.
