VIDEO: A Mother Is Killed, Her Son Injured, And The Suspect Is Behind Bars

NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A mother is killed, her young son injured, and the suspect behind bars tonight.

It was an early morning shooting in Noxubee County, just off of Highway 388 on Cockrell Quarters Road.

It’s been less than 24 hours since Marcus Gardner allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend and then shot her young son in the house they shared.

“I don’t know how many it was. I just heard them going off back to back. I didn’t know. I can’t tell you the count on it,” says Gardner’s cousin, Kanesha Cockrell.

Kanesha Cockrell remembers hearing gunshots early Tuesday morning.

She lives steps away from this house that’s outlined with crime scene tape.

Cockrell is Marcus Gardner’s cousin.

Gardner is accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend, 21-year old Kelsey Pace.

He is also charged with shooting and injuring her 4-year old son.

“My cousin and them came and got me and said they found and I called 911. ‘Who did they find?’ They had found the little boy in the house and so I called 911 and then we saw the blood trail through the house, where she had been dragged probably, so we don’t know,” says Cockrell.

The first call came in at six on Tuesday morning and not long after, Noxubee County Coroner R.L. Calhoun made it to what he calls, ‘a very gruesome crime scene.’

“It appeared that she was shot and we noticed the burns, burns on several spots of the body, as well. So right now, on the gunshots, we just can’t dictate how many times it was because of the condition of the burns.”

Gardner’s aunt, Catina Hopkins, says he hasn’t been acting like himself lately.

She is shocked by this tragic shooting.

“I hate the situation and that it even had to happen and I feel hurt in all kinds of ways for the girl and her little boy, even though my nephew. I feel that there could have been a different way out of it and you know, it just could have been prevented.”

Gardner disappeared after the shooting and eventually gave up hiding when he was spotted by law enforcement.

“We were all up here trying to coordinate a strategy. Basically, he came out from near the residence where he was and one of the deputies saw him and pulled him over and got him,” says Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree.

Sheriff Grassaree says Pace’s son was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and is believed to be in stable condition.

He also says Gardner faces murder and aggravated assault charges and possibly more.