MS Coast man headed to prison after ‘assault rifle’ killing outside Gulfport restaurant
A Mississippi Coast man who used a rifle in a killing outside of a Gulfport restaurant in 2021 has pleaded guilty and will spend more than two decades in prison, the Harrison County District Attorney’s office announced Thursday.
Terrence Courtney Dwight Hayes Jr., of Gulfport, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, District Attorney Crosby Parker said in a press release. Hayes will spend 28 years in prison after Circuit Judge Christopher Schmidt sentenced him to 40 years and suspended 12.
Hayes, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to killing 26-year-old Raheem Ramsey. Ramsey died in the parking lot of the South China restaurant on Courthouse Road after being shot with an “assault rifle,” police Sgt. Jason Ducre’ said in a press release at the time.
Gulfport Police rushed to the scene after a 911 call and found Ramsey suffering multiple gunshot wounds in his car, which had crashed into trees behind the restaurant, according to the District Attorney’s office.
Hayes fled the scene, but an employee gave police his car tag, the release said.
During his plea hearing, Hayes told the court Ramsey followed him into the restaurant and flashed a gun, according to the release. The two men argued outside the restaurant, and Hayes grabbed a rifle from his car, the release said.
Hayes said Ramsey then pointed a gun at him while he backed out of a parking space. Hayes fired at Ramsey’s car and hit Ramsey several times, the release said.
In court, Hayes told the judge he had an assault rifle because Ramsey “kept pulling up on him,” according to the release. Hayes father apologized to Ramsey’s family, the release said.
The judge admonished the killing.
“You personally are another example of the young men who don’t have the temperament to control their emotions,” Schmidt said in the release, “and when you have a gun in your hand, your emotions flow through your finger and it inserts bullets into other people’s bodies.”
