Mississippi father and son part of 'Redneck Neighborhood Watch' charged for shooting at 2 Black teens on ATVs
YAZOO COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: A father and son duo, Wader Twiner, 48, and Lane Twiner, 22, were arrested after chasing and shooting at two Black teenagers this past Sunday. They were arrested and charged on three counts of aggravated assault as reported. The two men were later released on bonds. No one was hurt in the incident.
As racism, a highly sensitive social issue sweeps the United States following the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, cases with racism at its center continue at alarming rates. A father and son duo, who are reportedly part of a 'Redneck Neighborhood Watch' in rural Mississippi allegedly chased down two Black teenagers on ATVs in their truck and proceeded to shoot at them. The Daily Mail reported that Wader Twiner, 48, and his son Lane, 22, both White men, were arrested after the incident had occurred this past Sunday. The duo has further been charged with three counts of aggravated assault according to Chief Deputy Joseph Head of the Yazoo County Sheriff's Office in central Mississippi. The publication further revealed that the sheriff is "considering" hate crime charges as well.
The story was reported as such: The two Black teenagers were riding their ATV's in Yazoo County, close to the area of the Twiner home when they were then chased by Wader and Lane in a pickup truck who started to shoot at them. The mother of one of the two victims in the incident has reportedly said that her son is "traumatized and cannot sleep." The case brought in a bit of deja-vu considering Arbery faced a similar situation but had a fatal outcome when he was killed by a father and son duo while jogging in February of this year. According to reports, although "several shots" were fired along with the truck "bumping" into one of the victim's ATV's, no one was hurt. The mother of one of the victims told WLBT3 that "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."
As speculations of why this may have happened began to surface, it is important to note that the victim revealed to the channel that the teenagers were not trespassing on private property. They were in fact on a road and according to the victim's word, "we're not close to the Twiners' residence either." According to reports, Yazoo County Sheriff Jake Sheriff told the channel that the Twiners revealed to law officials that they own land on both sides of the road, and "should not have to deal with people riding ATVs on the road, since it is against the law."
Either way, after the recovery of a 9mm handgun by authorities the same Sunday night, the father and son duo were arrested and taken down to Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility where they were later released on bail of $70,000. The sheriff told the channel, "We can't have people acting like vigilantes" with Head revealing that the officials were "looking into" if this was a hate crime. It is also important to the narrative that while it is true that ATV riding on public roads in Mississippi is illegal, it is not "strictly enforced" with the sheriff telling WLBT that besides the two teens, there were other individuals that were riding ATV's in the area where the Twiners live.
The Daily Mail article further spoke of how the officials involved in the case were exploring the Facebook posts made by the Twiners. There was evidence of a Confederate flag photo under which it read, 'You Loot We Shoot', and a post that read 'Redneck Neighborhood Watch', said the sheriff in an interview with the Clarion Ledger. The paper also revealed that the Twiners have had issues with ATVs on the road prior to this incident and another post on July 19 sported a picture of an ATV with the text, "If you had this and lived ... the coronavirus won't kill you. You already cheated death." The posts are not on the page anymore. According to Head, official authorities are conducting interviews with all parties involved, and further have another "potential witness" they will interview over this weekend. Further, according to FBI spokesperson Brett Carr, the FBI is "prepared to investigate" should there have been a "potential federal civil rights violation."