Some details– not necessarily consistent– are being reported about the incident in Greenwood now, although it’s hard to tell what to credit. The Clarion Ledger runs a Greenwood Commonwealth story with more details:
Authorities say a 70-year-old oncologist is accused of hiring two men to kill the lawyer who represented his ex-wife when they divorced in the 1990s. …
On Saturday night, two Greenwood men – Keaira Byrd, 23, and Derrick Lacy, 25 – entered Abraham’s law office as part of what police have said was a murder-for-hire plot against the attorney.
Greenwood Police Chief Henry Purnell said Abraham and agents from the attorney general’s office were meeting about the alleged scheme when the two men entered, and a gunfight ensued. Byrd was killed, and Lacy was flown to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where he was in critical condition Sunday afternoon, a hospital spokesperson said.
One of the agents, whose name has not been released, was wounded, but the injuries were not life-threatening. …
Last week, Abraham had said he contacted the FBI about an anonymous letter he said libeled his brother, Leflore County Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham, and his sister, Mississippi Delta Community College official Magdalene Abraham.
The letter, which purported to be from transcripts of secretly taped conversations, claimed that Sam Abraham and Magdalene Abraham, along with Sunflower County Chancery Clerk Paula Sykes, schemed to oust MDCC President Larry Bailey, who resigned earlier this month.
Lee Abraham is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the successful prosecution of the document’s publisher. …
The FBI said through a spokesman that it is not involved in the case.
Channel 5 in Memphis has a report, some of which seems to be neighbors just talking about what they’ve heard. Their report states that a federal agent was the one wounded in the case, which seems doubtful to me given that last sentence in the Commonwealth story.
Sounds like the perfect story line for an episode of City Confidential; if they are still doing new episodes.
Sounds like a long time to quietly hold a grudge; had the ex-wife filed new motions to adjust alimony or something?
The length of time was one of a number of facts that cried out for more explanation.
Something you learn in the military: initial reports are always wrong.
So far, this sounds like irreconcilable differences to me.
The “truth” … if ever it outs … will be irreconcilably different from these initial reports.
Stop me when this story line first starts to make sense:
Saturday night in Greenwood. Prominent attorney Lee Abraham … and I say that respectfully because Lee and I have been friends for more than three decades (and he is a highly accomplished marksman with pistols–I say that as a genuine compliment) … and two investigators from the state AG’s office sat visiting in Lee’s law office. It surely was a social call: state workers don’t work Saturday evenings.
Visitation was interrupted by two visitors’ “entering” Lee’s office building. How they gained entry … I don’t know. If their dropping by at that time was coincidental, then their luck is (was) worse than Joe Btfsplk’s.
Gunplay ensued. One visitor lies dead … the other grievously wounded.
More than two decades ago Lee represented the then-spouse of a prominent Greenwood physician. The physician is now in jail.
And all this is related … so I’m told. Seems irreconcilable thus far.
I concur in soljustice’s suggestion: excellent storyline for “City Confidential.” Cue up Keith David.
This happened a block from my office. I was working late and left around 8:50 pm Saturday to discover the entire area was blocked by 10-15 Greenwood PD vehicles. The killing had happened about 15 minutes earlier.
Here’s what happened: Paul Mueller, a confidant of Dr. Smith’s, was allegedly shopping around a hit on Lee. Some of his contacts reported it to Lee.
At the same time, Lee had advertised a $2,500 reward for information regarding the libelous letter being circulated about his siblings at MDCC.
Knowing that a hit was being organized, Lee was being careful. So when the hit team contacted him and claimed to want to meet about the $2,500 reward late night Saturday, the AG agents and Lee waited for them there. When they came, and saw the agents in the office, they opened up on them. The agents returned fire, killing one and seriously wounding the other.
All sorts of law enforcement have been in town the last 2-3 weeks investigating issues relating to Dr. Smith. He has published letters describing a fantastical “secret Muslim” conspiracy against him and his cancer clinic. He has claimed that former Mayor Harry Smith, the entire Abraham clan, and Jim Hood are “secret Muslims” out to take over Greenwood and destroy his cancer clinic. I have copies of the documents, correspondence, etc., as well as personal emails from Dr. Smith to me and Willie Perkins, outlining some of this conspiracy.
Dr. Smith is a brilliant oncologist, but he also suffers from long-term paranoid delusions, which I and others are intimately familiar with.
Those of us who have been tracking his situation have long predicted that he would try to kill Lee Abraham. When I saw all the cop vehicles in front of Lee’s office Saturday evening, I suspected that Smith had indeed killed Lee. I phoned his law partner at 9:10 to assure that he was ok, but couldn’t find out anything about Lee’s condition.
It was a tense hour or two until the situation cleared up and Lee was reported safe.
Our church had prayed for the Abraham family last Wednesday evening, that he would be kept safe and that the people behind the attacks would be found out.
Thank God he and Sam and Magdalene are safe.
John Pittman Hey
I would add to John’s narrative that Smith’s divorce was not that long ago – maybe 10 years at most. Serious allegations were made against him during the divorce, but I will not repeat them as I do not know how they were resolved.
Yes, Smith was actually charged with molesting one of his own daughters. The criminal case dragged on for years, going to the supreme court on a motion to bar the district attorney due to conflict of interest, etc. I do not know how that case was resolved, but he was charged over 5 years ago in that matter.
Here’s the link to the newspaper article:
http://www.gwcommonwealth.com/archives/article_3cc9585a-2dbd-59af-8145-58118858986d.html?_dc=780253415694.4603
John Pittman Hey
I checked they supreme court docket and only found this. What does the AP suggest in a cause number.
It’s these two: 2005-CA-02083 and 2006-M-01074-SCT
But there’s nothing substantial to be seen in the docket.
He was charged in 2004, and the case dragged on. Don’t know what it’s status is now.
John Pittman Hey
More details in today’s Commonwealth. They say that the AG has been investigating the murder-for-hire plot for 7 months, but I doubt that. Also, they report that the Lacey man who survived did speak with the police, but did not name Smith. Lacey was too ill to be interviewed yesterday in Jackson. Lacey spent time in Parchman earlier and was released in 2010.
The AG is personally on the scene in Greenwood. He was seen entering Abraham’s office yesterday. Smith’s clinic, home, and other properties have been searched, with up to 17 unmarked vehicles at one time being seen at his home yesterday.
The paper also confirms what I wrote above, that Abraham had agreed to meet with these two people about a video tape they claimed to possess re: the $2,500 reward Abraham had offered. But Abraham suspected it might be a set-up, so he and the AG’s investigators were on their guard. It turns out that there were two AG investigators inside Abraham’s office, and another one outside.
My sources tell me that Lacey is not expected to make it.
John Pittman Hey
Correction, Smith was charged with molesting two of his daughters in 2004. These incidents allegedly occurred in the early 1990s.
John Pittman Hey
OK … that’s it folks. Doc sets hit on lawyer … lawyer out maneuvers principal and his agents. Agents dead and dying. Doc shifting his flag to Parchman. Move along. Nothing to see here. Back to your rations of
JarndyceScruggs.If the second hit man doesn’t make it, I guess its an even deal as to whether Lee had the AG’s folks in there or not. If Lee had known they were coming, and he had been the one shooting, I don’t think there would have been the expense of airlifting the second one to Jackson. (And I’m not at all being critical about the AG’s shooting ability. I just wouldn’t won’t to be on the wrong side of a firearm that was being toted by Lee!)
John Hey, you’ve help clear up a lot of the missing links here. For those of us down in the state capitol, we were curious as to the real story. Question – Dit this good Doctor previously practice in Jackson around the mid-80′s. There was a ‘crazy’ Dr. Smith that I think lived in Belhaven – ultimately moved and I think to the Delta. Sounds like it could be one and the same.
Arnold Smith did practice in Jackson earlier in life. He ran a radiation oncology clinic there. He came to Greenwood in 1994.
See the new blog post by NMC to get even more updates. The story has changed a little bit. Now the probable cause affidavit and arrest warrant have been issued, and Dr. Smith has been charged with capital murder in the death of his alleged accomplice.
John Pittman Hey
JPH, do you know if Dr. Smith was at one time married to the ob/gyn Dr. Beverly Smith?
I have been told for many years that Arnold and Beverly were married long ago. Now of course, she’s married to Roy McMillan.
John Pittman Hey
Some time ago, Smith posted a Youtube video asking silly questions about the Abraham’s alleged public misconduct, and using video from our Taxpayers Channel project without permission and selectively edited. It’s here: http://www.youtube.com/user/govinfoaccess
Here’s our Taxpayers Channel site: http://www.thetaxpayerschannel.org
John Pittman Hey
The cases against Dr. Smith for molestation were thrown out.
Looks like this story is getting even more interesting. Lee seems to be hiding some very pertinent information from years past as it relates to the Doc as well as these supposedly taped conversations that have made their rounds.
I’m told that these taped conversations are in fact actual and that the real reason for the failed assassination(if you can call it that) was directly related to two individuals being used as pawns to extort money from Lee regarding the actual tapes and there where-a-bouts. Lee has been aware of these conversations for months! The AG office was brought in for support for Lee regarding the extortion concerns. All Lee wants to do is track the tapes, but he can’t now.
The Doc has been going after Lee for quite some time. I wonder if he is the mastermind behind the tapes?
The “transcripts” floating around are really not credible based on my knowledge of Sam and Magdalene Abraham. They just don’t talk that way. In all my conversations with Sam he has never used the “N” word and never takes the Lord’s name in vain.
In addition, whoever concocted those transcripts made a very critical mistake: they have Sam Abraham talking about the MDCC facility that Lee Abraham leases to them, and Sam states (according to the “Transcript”) that the facility is on Grand Avenue.
But the problem is, it isn’t on Grand Avenue.
1. It’s on West Park Avenue.
2. There is a Grand Avenue, and Sam and Lee would know it very well, but it happens to be several miles from the MDCC facility.
3. People from out of town may confuse Grand Avenue and Grand Boulevard, but people from Greenwood NEVER confuse the two. Most people in Greenwood don’t know where Grand Avenue is, and those who do know will laugh at you if you confuse the two. Grand Boulevard has the best real estate in Greenwood, while Grand Avenue is a slum area.
4. Interestingly, MVSU has an outreach facility on Grand Boulevard.
5. There are NO outreach facilities by any college or junior college on Grand Avenue.
This mistake destroys the credibility of the “transcripts” in my opinion. The person who concocted them got his streets mixed up, and got his facilities mixed up as well.
To repeat:
MVSU has a facility on Grand BOULEVARD
MDCC has a facility on West Park Avenue
Grand AVENUE is way across town from either Grand Boulevard or West Park Avenue.
John Pittman Hey
Without knowing that kind of detail, I’d thought the “transcripts” not credible and over-the-top, which is why I’d not linked to them.
I assume the “transcipts” being referred to are the so-called “Document of Concern” about Mississippi Delta Community College that have been making the rounds of the Internet lately and have a lot of people, blacks in particular, upset. I have a question: If what’s allegedly contained in this “document” untrue, then what was the purpose of creating it?
“I have a question: If what’s allegedly contained in this “document” untrue, then what was the purpose of creating it?”
I assume for the same reason someone insists all of their property has been replaced by identical-but-of-lesser-value property and then makes an insurance claim based on it. They’re delusional.
Re: the motive for creating the “transcript” document –
Presumably, it’s just part of the politics that plays out at our junior colleges and our state universities over who’s going to be President and who’s going to be on the outs.
At MVSU, some local politicians (Sen. David Jordan and others) actually staged a protest march at MVSU against the newly named President Dr. Oliver. Before she even set foot on campus!
Likewise, there has been a great deal of controversy regarding Dr. Bailey as president of MDCC. The campus is divided into factions – so is the faculty. Bailey just announced his retirement a few weeks ago, and the knives have already been sharpened and fingers pointed in accusation about why he is leaving and whose fault it is, etc.
The Abrahams are pretty important wheels at MDCC, so they are likely to be involved in the politics of these decisions.
Presumably, somebody manufactured those “transcripts” in order to get an advantage in the PR war, etc.
John Pittman Hey
Ain’t Mississippi fun?!
JPH, I’m not so sure your assumption concerning the “authentic nature” of the “Document of Concern” is strong enough to avoid taking a closer look at the actions of those being implicated in the matter.
The pieces of the puzzle are slowly starting to line up and it’s obvious that the Abraham’s are well entrenched into both areas. That’s cause of concern itself! The one issue that’s not being discussed is the supposed connection of these “assassin’s” with the stabbing of Smith, and the mentioning that they were requesting to get paid for their services by Lee.
What’s also interesting is one of the individuals shot did not mention Smith as the “ring leader” behind the failed assassination attempt.
One things for sure: this story is far from over and there are several missing important details that the Abraham’s are intentionally trying to cover up. The questions is why?
Jane, because that is what you see in the black community at election time. Flyers spread spouting all kinds of trash, not backed up by anyone. Ask marshand crisler. Jordan and Perkins lost at MDOC and they also lost the school board elections too or rather, their cronies did. Supposedly the LA bunch has been supporting opposing candidates and winning enough.
What is the “LA bunch”?
And was Lee Abraham controversial before this shooting occurred?
Lee Abraham is very controversial in Leflore County. The Abrahams are a powerful and well-connected family. Lee was the city attorney, and heavily backed the election of Greenwood’s current mayor. Sam is the Chancery Clerk and county administrator of Leflore County.
So it’s not surprising that the family would be the subject of organized political attacks. Not that that excuses spreading lies or plotting deadly attacks against them.
John Pittman Hey
Is there a rivalry between the Abrahams and David Jordan?
So, there are two theories about the alleged MDCC “Document of Concern” :
1. It was created by Dr. Smith in his vendetta against Lee Abraham.
2. It was created by some other person(s) trying to gain political influence at MDCC.
P.S. I know realize “the LA bunch” means “the Lee Abraham bunch”.