A Tunica County man has been found guilty by a federal jury for possessing ammunition illegally after previously being convicted of a felony. The conviction is connected to the homicide of Davao Thomas on February 18, 2023, at the Kirby Estates apartment complex.
Court documents revealed that Korea McKay, 44, shot Thomas after being asked to reduce his speed. Following the incident, McKay fled the scene in his truck, which was later discovered behind a trailer in Dundee, Mississippi.
McKay had previously been arrested and charged for murder at the state level. However, after his release from state custody, a federal complaint led to his arrest for possession of a firearm by a felon, linked to a prior arrest in Desoto County in 2020. He was subsequently indicted for possessing ammunition related to Thomas's homicide. Currently, McKay is serving a 48-month sentence for the earlier Desoto County case and is scheduled for sentencing on July 17, 2025, for the ammunition charges.
McKay possessed the ammunition while having prior felony convictions, including assault on a police officer and a federal drug conviction, placing him at risk of facing up to 15 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner stated, "We appreciate the jury’s careful deliberation of the evidence and their guilty verdict, and we hope this brings some sense of justice to the victim’s family. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to prosecute violent felons in our communities who possess weapons and ammunition, and we will use all of the tools at our disposal to prosecute those individuals to the maximum extent allowed by law.”
The investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Tunica County Sheriff’s Department, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samuel Stringfellow and Julie Addison are handling the prosecution.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program aiming to reduce violent crime and enhance community safety, with initiatives launched by the Department of Justice to foster community trust, support violence prevention organizations, and focus on strategic law enforcement priorities.
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