Neighbor remembers victim in fatal Gulfport shooting

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Gulfport police investigators spent Monday morning investigating a fatal shooting that left 24-year-old Keevon Edwards dead Sunday afternoon.

Police said they responded to the call at around 5:44 p.m. Witnesses said the shooting happened in a second-floor apartment at French Oaks Apartments, which is blocks away from Memorial Hospital and Gulfport Central Middle School.

Now, Edwards’s neighbors mourn their loss.

“He was a guy I known for a very long time, didn’t bother nobody,” neighbor Ernest Fletcher said. “He’s a good guy. If he’s down to his last, he would give you the shirt off his back.”

Fletcher said he went to school with Edwards when they were younger, and then years later they both lived in the apartment complex, Fletcher just on the floor below his friend. On the day of the shooting, he said he tried to warn Edwards when he saw two men heading up the stairs to his apartment.

“I tried to call his phone and let him know, ‘Don’t open your door,’” he said.

He said Edwards never saw his message. The men then entered the apartment and that’s when chaos began.

“After the door closed I heard ‘Get up, get up,’ then after I heard ‘Get up.’ Then a minute later I heard three gunshots ring out. I saw bro on the couch gasping for air trying to get some help,” Fletcher said. “He’s looking me at my eyes, begging.”

Fletcher said he quickly called 911, pleading for medical attention as the two men ran off. He stayed by his friend’s side during his final moments.

“May he rest in peace. I just want to let y’all know, I was there for him and I tried to save him. I hate bro had to go like that,” Fletcher said.

Now he and other residents feel uneasy about their complex and they hope security cameras can be installed around the property to protect them from future crimes.

“Who knows who is next,” Fletcher said.

He and other neighbors now mourn Edwards and give his prayers to his friend’s family.

“Bro rest in heaven. Long live Keevon. We’re going to miss you bro,” Fletcher said.

Anyone with any information, please call the Gulfport Police Department at 228-868-5959 or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 877-787-5898.

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