Father & Son Convicted Of Hate Crime For Shooting At Black ATV Riders

A Mississippi father and son have been convicted of a hate crime after chasing and shooting at Black teenagers riding ATVs.

The convictions stem from the September 2020 incident, when a call was placed to the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Office concerning two white men in a white Chevy pickup truck chasing two Black males on four-wheelers down a rural road. The ATV riders, Steven Gibbs and Deveon Luckett, and the Chevy’s occupants, Wade Oscar Twiner and his son, Lane, were apprehended by law authorities. The Twiners initially told police that they were trying to perform a citizen’s arrest on the teens, who they claimed was driving recklessly. However, Gibbs and Luckett said that the men fired shots at them, which is why they sped off rapidly in an attempt to getaway. The Twiners quickly followed them.

Eventually, the 49-year-old father and his 22-year-old son admitted to firing their weapons and chasing the teens. Both men were convicted of two counts of simple assault and felonious mischief after a three-day jury trial. The jury also ruled that race was a motivator in the attack, which added the hate crime component to their charges.

The Twiners will both serve four years in prison and three years of supervised probation. Upon release, they will be required to complete sensitivity training and 100 hours of community service. The men will pay $2,500 in restitution to the victims and additional penalties of $3,500. The Twiners are prohibited from speaking to the victims or their families.

They originally faced up to 20 years in prison.