A local man has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly fatally shooting a woman in Petal, marking the first such incident in the city in several years.
According to a news release from the Petal Police Department, officers responded to a call of gunfire in the 200 block of West 4th Avenue on the morning of March 10. Thirty-five-year-old Taebyus Ahmaud Smith, whose address is listed as Petal on the website of the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office, was taken into custody and booked into the Forrest County Correctional Facility.
The victim has been identified as 21-year-old Ed’Lauryn Kimbreun Baylis of Silver Creek.
Petal police chief Matthew Hiatt said this is the first murder in the City of Petal in approximately 10 years.
The Hattiesburg Police Department and the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office are assisting in the investigation.
“The Petal Police Department is grateful for the assistance provided by the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office in securing the crime scene, and the Hattiesburg Police Department’s crime scene investigator for helping process and collect the evidence related to this case,” the release states.
