A Mississippi father and son have been arrested after chasing two Black teens riding ATVs and shooting at them. The two white men Wade Oscar Twiner, 48, and his son Lane Twiner, 22, have now been charged with aggravated assault after they went after the two teens in Yazoo County, Mississippi, on Sept. 27.
The pair, “pursued them and tried to stop them and to shoot them and bump them with the four-wheeler,” Yazoo County Sheriff Jacob Sheriff told WBLT 3.
Law enforcement officials are investigating the incident that may be a hate crime. The teens were the only Black people on the road who were assaulted.
“We’re still looking at some things on that to see if we can establish a hate crime or not. We’ve got to get with the DA and look at the statutes to say whether that would be a hate crime or not,” Sheriff said.
One of the teen’s mother spoke about the incident with the news station.
“Not only did they shoot at him, they also ran into the back of his four wheeler, and that could also have been murder right then and there,” she said. Both teens’ identities haven’t been released. One teen told the news station, he can still hear the sound of the gunshots when he closes his eyes and has trouble sleeping at the night.
“It was kind of difficult last night since it was the first night it happened, so we just have to take it step by step, day by day to see how it plays out,” the victim’s mother said. The Twiners believe that because they pay taxes and own property on both sides of the road where the teens were riding they shouldn’t have to deal with people riding ATVs on the road. The Twiners were taken to the Yazoo Regional Correctional Facility, with bonds set at $70,000.
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