From Staff Reports
The McLain Police Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations are saying a shooting incident that left two dead in McLain last week was an apparent murder-suicide.
The incident started at McLain Express convenience store during the mid-morning hours last Thursday. McLain Police Chief Donald Crager said he received a call from 911 dispatchers at 9:56 a.m., reporting a shooting at the store. Crager said LeDaniel Lavon Silas, 25, was in his car at the gas pump when Trevon Collins, 24, approached the vehicle. Witnesses told police the two men spoke briefly before Collins removed a gun from his jacket and shot Silas five times. Crager said Collins then returned to his vehicle and drove away.
Collins was reportedly wearing a hooded shirt covering his head when he approached Silas, but Crager said he was easily identifiable through surveillance video from the store and other evidence.
Crager said he believed the suspect drove around the area before parking across the road behind a wooded area to observe the developing scene at the store. While law enforcement officers were investigating the scene, the suspect was located nearby suffering from a gunshot wound himself.
“A lady came across the road and said there was a body lying near the railroad tracks just across the street,” Crager said. “The suspect took his own life.”
Crager said upon further investigation of the scene, police recovered a large amount of various drugs from the car driven by Silas. No motive for the shooting was known at the time of the incident.
Both the victim and suspect were residents of McLain. Dozens of onlookers, including members of the victim’s family were at the scene.
