A Yazoo City man was sentenced to serve 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to a drive-by shooting in the summer of 2023.
Akyrion Phillips entered a guilty plea during his trial in Yazoo County last week, according to District Attorney Akillie Malone-Oliver. The presiding judge accepted the plea as an open plea, sentencing Phillips for two counts of aggravated assault and one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling.
Phillips will serve 35 years of his 50-year sentence.
The complete sentencing order included two consecutive 20-year sentences for the aggravated assault charges, with five years suspended and 15 years to serve on each count. Additionally, he received a consecutive 10-year sentence for shooting into an occupied dwelling, which included five years suspended and five years to serve.
Phillips’ charges stemmed from a drive-by shooting into an occupied residence that took place during the early morning hours on Fourteenth Street, near Jackson Avenue, on Aug. 10, 2023.
“The incident resulted in one person being shot in the back and another suffering a graze wound to the head,” Malone-Oliver said. “At the time of the shooting, there were approximately 12 individuals inside the home, including a grandmother, her children, and several grandchildren, some of whom were only a few months old.”
The Herald reported on the incident back in 2023, which was believed to have been connected to two other shootings that had occurred during that same month in Yazoo City.
