WEST POINT, Miss.—Clay County Sheriff's Office authorities have arrested Willie Swain Jr. in connection with the Feb. 22 fatal shooting of Javerest Gray in the parking lot outside the Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi facility.
The arrest was made early afternoon Feb 23 at the sheriff’s office after Swain turned himself in, according to Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott.
“The suspect surrendered peacefully,” Scott told Rubber News.
Swain, 41, had his initial appearance Feb. 24 in the Justice Court of Clay County.
No plea was entered in an initial appearance. A preliminary hearing has been set for March 9, according to a court spokesperson, during which he is expected to be bound over to the Clay County Circuit Court.
Bond was set at $1.2 million as Swain remains in custody of the Clay County Sheriff's Office.
According to Scott, both the suspect, Swain, and the victim, Gray, 28, were Yokohama workers who had just finished the third shift at the tire manufacturing facility when the shooting reportedly occurred just after 7 a.m.
Scott said "some type of argument or altercation" between Gray and Swain preceded the shooting.
Gray, of nearby Starkville, Miss., was taken to the Northern Mississippi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just after 8 a.m., Scott said.
In the wake of the shooting, Yokohama temporarily suspended production at the facility and provided grief counseling for employees. Production has resumed at the plant, according to a Yokohama spokesperson.
"YTMM is shocked and saddened by this senseless act of violence," Philip Calhoun, YTMM's plant manager and vice president of manufacturing, said in a Feb. 22 statement. "YTMM takes the safety and health of its employees seriously and we ask that you keep the deceased and their family in your thoughts as we are all mourning this tragedy."
YTMM added that it is cooperating with local authorities in the matter.
Yokohama Tire Corp. and Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi are part of Santa Ana, Calif.-based Yokohama Corp. of North America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.
The company's product line includes tires for high-performance, light truck, passenger car and commercial truck and bus.
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