Tunica County man convicted for ammunition possession in connection to a homicide
Credit: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Mar 26, 2025- A federal jury convicted a Tunica County man today for illegally possessing ammunition after having been convicted of a felony.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Korea McKay, 44, shot and killed Davao Thomas on Feb. 18, 2023. McKay killed Mr. Thomas after Mr. Thomas told him to slow down in the Kirby Estates apartment complex. Two shell casings were recovered at the scene.
McKay fled the scene in his truck. A few days later, local investigators discovered the truck hidden behind a trailer in Dundee. After being released from state custody on the state arrest warrant for murder, a federal complaint was issued, and McKay was arrested for felon-in-possession of a firearm related to a prior DeSoto County arrest in 2020. McKay was detained and held without bond in federal custody. In May 2023, he was indicted for felon-in-possession of ammunition stemming from the homicide. McKay is currently serving a 48-month sentence on the DeSoto County case. He will be sentenced on the felon-in-possession of ammunition on July 17.
Records reflect that at the time McKay possessed the ammunition, he had multiple prior felony convictions, including convictions for assault of a police officer and a federal drug conviction. He faces up to 15-years imprisonment.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner. “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 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Tunica County Sheriff’s Department, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samuel Stringfellow and Julie Addison are prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.
