Three Gulfport men plead guilty to roles in New Year’s Eve shootout

Three Gulfport men plead guilty to their various charges for their roles in a deadly 2021 New Year’s Eve shooting.

District Attorney W. Crosby Parker announced that Latavion Bland (23), Vincent Armstrong (21), and Mario Clark (26), all of Gulfport, pled guilty last week, to their roles in a shootout, that left four men dead on Lewis Avenue, on the night of December 31, 2021.

In all, six separate individuals have been convicted for their roles in the shooting.

Bland pled guilty to an amended charge of Mayhem, Armstrong pled guilty to an amended charge of Mayhem and an indicted charge of Shooting into a Motor Vehicle, and Clark pled guilty to an amended charge of Hindering Prosecution of a Felon.

Armstrong also pled guilty to an unrelated charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Distribute, and Clark pled guilty to an unrelated charge of Felony Fleeing.

After accepting the guilty pleas, Circuit Court Judge Christopher Schmidt, deferred sentencing until December 9, 2024. All three men will remain in custody pending sentencing.

During the plea hearing, Assistant District Attorney Ian Baker, provided the Court with the details of the case that showed shortly before midnight on the night of December 31, 2021, Gulfport Police Department began receiving reports of multiple shots fired in the area of 1220 Lewis Avenue.

Police responded and observed more than one hundred spent shell casings in the roadway and on a front lawn on Lewis Avenue.

Additionally, police found several houses on Lewis Avenue and multiple cars riddled with bullet holes. Police also found that Nathaniel Harris (52), Sedrick McCord (28), Corey Dubose (23), and Aubrey Lewis (22), had all been shot and killed, and three others had sustained non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Through the course of the investigation that followed, police interviewed dozens of witnesses.

“Despite that both witnesses and victims refused to provide the full truth of what happened on that deadly evening to the authorities, detectives were nonetheless able to piece together a picture of what occurred,” said ADA Ian Baker.

The investigation revealed that a New Year’s Eve celebration was taking place at a home on Lewis Avenue. The party was originally attended by a group of adults. During the hours leading up to midnight, two separate groups of younger individuals from separate neighborhoods arrived at the party.

In all, more than 100 young people attended the party. Witnesses described that as the night progressed, tensions began to rise between the two groups. Those tensions would come to a head minutes before midnight when Aubrey Lewis of Bay St. Louis, became involved in a fistfight with Corey Dubose from Gulfport. The fight took place in the middle of Lewis Avenue, and resulted in the two falling on Sedrick McCord’s car.

Witnesses say that McCord took exception to the two men fighting on the hood of his car, so McCord stepped out of the car and fired his pistol once into the air.

Lewis and Dubose then simultaneously pulled their firearms and shot and killed each other.

Isavian Preston (26) of Gulfport, then shot and killed McCord. After Preston shot McCord, several other individuals, including Bland and Armstrong, pulled their firearms and shot recklessly into the crowd gathered around the fight.

Once the shooting stopped, Nathaniel Harris was located deceased in the street.

During their pleas, both Bland and Armstrong admitted to shooting into the crowd, and Armstrong also admitted to shooting a vehicle.

Clark admitted that he lied to police in an attempt to cover for his brother, Armstrong.

Isavian Preston pled guilty last December to Manslaughter and Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.

Preston was sentenced to a term of thirty (30) years, to run consecutive to an eight (8) year sentence that he is currently serving on a revocation of his previous conviction.

Khalid Williams (29) also pled guilty in April to two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by Convicted Felon related to this matter.

Williams was sentenced to twelve (12) years to serve consecutive to an eight (8) year sentence he is currently serving on a revocation of a prior conviction.

Breanna Riley (25) pled guilty in June to Hindering Prosecution of a Felon, and sentencing was deferred until September.

Bobby Hands (30), the remaining indicted codefendant, has been set for trial in December.