Officials address conviction of a man guilty of killing a 9-year-old
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – A Starkville man has been sentenced to life in prison for his part in the death of a 9-year-old child.
On November 7, Christopher Perkins was found guilty of 1st-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
The Starkville Police Department and the District Attorney addressed the conviction at a press conference.
Chief Mark Ballard and District Attorney Scott Colom agree that this was not an easy case.
Many people spent countless hours in an effort to get justice for Lasang Kemp Jr., a 9-year-old who was shot and killed.
Through collaboration and technology, they were able to get a conviction.
“We lost a case of innocence in a murder,” said Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard. “Whenever you lose a child in a murder, in military terms they call it a broken arrow, which means when things are really bad, it takes full effort to over-counter those negative things. That was a broken arrow moment for this administration, for our officers.”
Thursday, Christopher Perkins was sentenced to life in prison for murder and 40 years for aggravated assault.
“When you talk about the life he took, that’s Justice,” Perkins said. “Anybody out there who feels as if they need to take the law into their own hands, they needs to have a gun and are willing to do something as reckless, as heartless, and as dangerous as to shoot into a vehicle, that you don’t know who is in the vehicle, and you take away a young precious life, like was done on January 5th, 2022, don’t be sad when you have to face the consequences of that”
District Attorney Scott Colom said this was not an easy case to prosecute.
“There were no eyewitnesses to it,” Colom said. “The people who were in the vehicle with Lasang Kemp Jr. could not identify the vehicle or the shooter. There were people who had information that did not want to cooperate. So, when you talk about technology, that was extremely important in solving this case.”
Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard said this case led to a transitional moment within the department.
“Technology played an important role in providing leads for this case,” Ballard said. “Had these cameras not been in place, had we not taken that advance in embracing technology, we would not have had these leads, to bring conclusion, to bring justice.”
“There is no doubt about it,” Colom said. “Had they not had those cameras up, there would not have been arrests. If we had not had the ability to track their cell phone, through the technology the Starkville Police Department used, we would not have been able to get a conviction.”
Three others were arrested on the night of the shooting. Colom said the four were acting together to kill Lasang Kemp Senior when the child was caught in the crossfire.
“Three of them did decide to stop digging by cooperating with us, and we’re going to have to give them some benefit for that because their testimony was crucial for the trial because they were the only people that can describe what happened in the vehicle,” Colom said.
Barron Hubbard pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder. Dellveon Lindsay pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Tabryon Fisher had not entered a plea as of this morning.
