On the night of April 13, 2025, at about 11:13 p.m., deputies responded to a shooting at Carol Street and Edwards Avenue in Tunica, Mississippi. Eighteen-year-old Makenzie Kaleb Thomas, a Black male, was found with multiple gunshot wounds. First responders treated him at the scene but he was pronounced dead by Tunica County Coroner Glen Grant; his body was sent to the Mississippi Crime Lab for autopsy.

Investigators quickly identified a suspect and an active warrant was issued for 17-year-old Mario Donyale Lester Jr. of Tunica County on charges of First Degree Murder and Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm within a Populated Area. Authorities described Lester as armed and dangerous and warned against aiding anyone evading capture. On April 16, 2025, the Tunica County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Lester had been arrested and was in custody at the Tunica County Jail. The investigation into the circumstances of Thomas’s death is ongoing.

Did anyone in Tunica hear or see anything at Carol Street and Edwards Avenue that night that could help investigators?