Mississippi man, son accused of shooting at 2 Black teens riding ATVs

YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. — A Mississippi man and his son are accused of chasing down and shooting at two Black teenagers who were riding ATVs, authorities said.

Wade Oscar Twiner, 48, and Lane Irvine Twiner, 22, of Yazoo County, were arrested Sunday and each charged with three counts of aggravated assault, according to online jail records. If convicted, they could both face up to 20 years in prison.

According to Yazoo County Sheriff Jacob Sheriff, the men, who are white, chased the teens, who were riding ATVs, WLBT reported.

Deputies received a call about 7:30 p.m. about two men in a white Chevrolet pickup truck chasing two people on four-wheelers, WAPT reported.

Deputies found the truck and the teenagers on the ATVs and stopped the vehicles, the television station reported. According to the teens, the Twiners had fired shots at them. The teens said they fled but the Twiners chased after them, according to WAPT.

The Twiners told deputies that the teenagers were driving erratically and speeding, the television station reported. The men, who admitted to firing shots, said they were trying to find out who the teens were and apprehend them, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Wade Oscar Twiner and his son, Lane Twiner, pursued them and tried to stop them and to shoot them and bump them with the four-wheeler, so they were charged with aggravated assault,” Sheriff Jacob Sheriff told WLOX. “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."

The two men told deputies they owned the land on both sides of the road the teens were riding on, the television station reported. According to Sheriff, the men said they should not have to deal with people riding ATVs on the road, saying it was against the law.

The mother of one victim, who requested anonymity, told WLOX the teens escaped from a potentially dangerous situation.

“Not only did they shoot at him, (but) they also ran into the back of his four-wheeler, and that could also have been murder right then and there,” the woman told the television station.

Cox Media Group