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NATCHEZ — Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten issued an urgent message to Adams County residents to be on the lookout for a gold-colored Ford Fusion and three teens who escaped from a detention center in Hinds County and could be involved with shooting and carjacking a woman in the Natchez area.

“We just received a call of a female carjacked and shot on U.S. 61 North,” Patten said. “There were three juveniles traveling in a white van that we have recovered. We need individuals to be on the lookout for a gold Ford Fusion (belonging to the woman who was carjacked).”

The vehicle is a 2015 Ford Fusion with the tag number ADC8276. The vehicle was stolen at the Stanton Baptist Church near Natchez and its owner was shot twice, once in the neck and once in the back, after she refused to give up her cellphone.

Patten said it’s unclear if the woman will be OK.

 

One of the juveniles possibly involved is 17-year-old Tayshon Holmes from Natchez, who at age 15 was previously arrested and charged with the murder of 19-year-old Bill Calvin Jr. The other two are Robert Earl Smith,16, and Jashon Jones, 15.

The three teens escaped overnight from the Henley-Young-Patton Youth Detention Center.

Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones told news stations that they got away after a “large disturbance” at the juvenile center. At least three other detainees were also injured and taken to a hospital. They are expected to be OK, the sheriff said.

However, authorities are still looking for the three escapees. The same trio escaped the facility in July 2023.

They are also suspected of another carjacking in Jackson, where a white Med-Transit Doge Van was stolen and has since been recovered by authorities. Another stolen vehicle, a blue 2007 Jeep Liberty with tag number CFB-0901, was recovered Monday morning in the 1900 block of Wilson Street.

“We need everyone to be on high alert and make sure they call 911 if they spot this gold Ford Fusion,” Patten said.