HPD: Man wanted for questioning in connection to old HHS gym fire comes forward The Hattiesburg Fire Department dealt with a blaze at the old Hattiesburg High School Gymnasium early Sunday morning. (Source: WDAM) By WDAM Staff | February 9, 2021 at 11:28 AM CST - Updated February 9 at 7:50 PM
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - A man wanted for questioning by the Hattiesburg Police Department in connection to a weekend fire that destroyed the old Hattiesburg High School gymnasium has come forward.
Police said Tuesday that Waylon Smith, 18, was wanted for questioning in the investigation, but he has since come forward to be questioned.
The old gymnasium on Forrest Street went up in flames early Sunday morning.
Early-morning fire damages old HHS gymnasium
Section of Forrest St. closed; crews restoring power to nearby buildings after damage to lines, poles
Early-morning fire damages old HHS gymnasium By Tim Doherty | February 7, 2021 at 1:11 PM CST - Updated February 7 at 10:54 PM
From City of Hattiesburg Communications
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - Last week, the City of Hattiesburg submitted a grant application for a planning/feasibility study to renovate the old Hattiesburg High School Gymnasium on Front Street.
Whatever the initial plans were, they might have gone up in flames Sunday morning.
Hattiesburg firefighters responded to a call about 2:15 a.m. Sunday about a fire in the 500 block of Front Street.
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Police in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, shot a 14-year-old Black child five times near Hattiesburg High School, on the morning of Jan 27. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment in the ICU.
The police department and the local news reported that a “man” was shot. Speaking to the racist history of dehumanization of Black people, Reginald Virgil, President and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Mississippi, said, “They weren’t clear at all about him being a young boy. That is misleading and deceitful and providing misinformation. Typically, young [Black] boys are ‘adultified’ at a very young age.”
A 2014 study found that Black boys are perceived as less innocent within a criminal justice context, and as more appropriate targets of police violence. Black children are also 18 times more likely to be tried as adults than are white children in the criminal justice system.
BLM Miss. to protest shooting of teenager by police Monday On Wednesday, Jan. 27, a Hattiesburg Police Department officer was involved in the shooting of a male who was reported to have possession of a weapon near Hattiesburg High School at Hutchinson Avenue and 4th Street before 8 a.m. (Source: Black Lives Matter Mississippi) By Renaldo Hopkins | January 31, 2021 at 11:42 PM CST - Updated February 1 at 10:48 AM
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - Black Lives Matter Mississippi is preparing to protest the shooting of a teenager by a Hattiesburg police officer that happened last week.
The protest will take place Monday, Feb. 1, at Hattiesburg City Hall.