MCCOMB, Miss. — Malik Reed was sentenced Monday to 70 years in prison, with the first 50 years to serve, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and four counts of aggravated assault in a 2022 shooting at a McComb park that left a 6-year-old boy dead and four others injured.
Reed entered the guilty plea Feb. 12 in the Circuit Court of Pike County. Judge David Strong imposed the sentence and ordered Reed to serve the time in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The charges stem from a shooting at Central Park in McComb, where multiple people were struck by gunfire near the park’s basketball courts and playground. Authorities and previous reporting by The Enterprise-Journal said shots were fired from a black Dodge Charger traveling east on Minnesota Avenue. Police said the vehicle had bullet holes, suggesting someone may have fired back, and that several nearby homes were also struck.
The 6-year-old victim died of his injuries at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center. A 12-year-old who was shot was airlifted, and three other victims, ages 23, 18 and 17, were also injured.
District Attorney Brendon Adams, who prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorney Rodney Tidwell, said the sentence should send a message. “The actions of the defendant in this case will not be tolerated in our communities,” Adams said in a statement. “Another example of our children in the communities resorting to gun violence and everyone loses. We will not tolerate this type of senseless violence.” Adams said he hopes the sentence will serve as a deterrent and bring some measure of closure to the victims’ families after four years.
