White father and son who boasted of being a 'Redneck Neighborhood Watch' in rural Mississippi 'chase two black teenagers on ATVS in their truck and shoot at them'
A white father and son in rural Mississippi have been arrested after they allegedly chased two black teenagers on ATVs off the road and repeatedly shot at them from a pickup truck.
Wade Twiner, 48, and his son, Lane Twiner, 22, have each been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, said Chief Deputy Joseph Head of the Yazoo County Sheriff's Office in central Mississippi.
No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred on Sunday night, and bore striking similarities to the case of Ahmaud Arbery - a 25-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a white father and son in February while he was out jogging.
The two teenagers were riding ATVs on a country road close to the Twiners' home, Head said.
Wade Twiner, 48, left, and his son, Lane Twiner, 22 have been charged with aggravated assault
At some point, the father and son began chasing after the two boys, firing several shots and bumping into one of the ATVs with the pickup.
'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,' said the mother of one of two black teens, speaking to WLBT3.
The victim told the channel told it might make more sense to him if they had been trespassing, but they were on the road, and they were not close to the Twiners' residence either.
A 9mm handgun was recovered by authorities Sunday night.
Both Twiners were arrested and transported to Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility.
The Twiners have been released on bail. It was not immediately clear whether they have an attorney who could comment for them.
Yazoo County Sheriff Jake Sheriff told WLBT that the Twiners told law enforcement they own land on both sides of the road and that they should not have to deal with people riding ATVs on the road, since it is against the law.
The two teenagers were allegedly attacked on this rural road in Yazoo County, Mississippi
The road is commonly used by ATV riders and is a quiet public highway
Although operating ATVs on public roads is illegal in Mississippi, that regulation is not strictly enforced. The sheriff told WLBT there were other people riding ATVs in the area of the Twiners' home on the day they allegedly confronted the teens.
Sheriff said on Tuesday he is concerned with any resident taking matters into their own hands with the threat of lethal force.
'We can't have people acting like vigilantes,' he said.
Head said they were looking into whether it was a potential hate crime.
Jacob Sheriff of Yazoo County said they are considering pressing hate crime charges
The sheriff said in an interview with the Clarion Ledger that they were looking at social media posts made by one of the Twiners.
One Facebook post displayed the words 'Redneck Neighborhood Watch' and a photo of a Confederate flag, the sheriff told the newspaper.
Beneath the photo it read: 'You Loot We Shoot'.
Another Facebook posts suggests Twiner has had an issue with ATVs on the road in the past, the paper reported. The public road where the incident occurred, Ridge Road, is near property the Twiners own, according to county tax assessor records.
On July 19, one of the Twiners posted to his page a picture of an ATV with the words, 'If you had this and lived ... the coronavirus won't kill you. You already cheated death.'
The posts appear to have since been taken down.
Until recently, the Confederate flag was depicted on the Mississippi state flag. Legislators voted to change it in June after criticism that the flag is widely considered a racist symbol.
No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred on Sunday night, and bore striking similarities to the case of Ahmaud Arbery - a 25-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a white father and son - Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34 - in February while he was out jogging
Arbery was out jogging on February 23 when he was spotted by Gregory McMichael, who claims he believed the 25-year-old looked like a burglary suspect
A hate crime is defined as a crime typically involving violence that is motivated by prejudice on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation or other grounds.
Authorities did not disclose further information, citing an ongoing investigation.
Head said authorities are conducting interviews with everyone involved, and have one more potential witness to interview this weekend.
FBI spokesperson Brett Carr said the FBI is aware of the incident and is in regular contact with local authorities.
'If in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate,' he said.