Police: Escaped detainee wanted after pastor killed while trying to provide aid following wreck

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Police say that a pastor was killed while trying to provide aid to an escaped detainee who had wrecked a stolen motorcycle in Jackson.

According to Jackson police, at 7 p.m. on Monday, officers responded to “an unknown trouble” in the area of I-55 South Frontage Road and Old Byram Road.

Once on the scene, officers found a Black man lying face up in the road.

Upon further investigation, it was revealed the man, identified as 61-year-old Anthony Watts, pulled over on the side of the road to help a white man who appeared to have wrecked a motorcycle that he had stolen moments earlier.

Watts was the head pastor of St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church in D’Lo, Mississippi. This confirmed Tuesday afternoon by the assistant pastor of the church.

The suspect shot Watts several times, police say, then stole his red Dodge Ram 1500 truck. The truck has tan trim and a Cowboys sticker on the front and the back.

“Please proceed with caution when approaching this vehicle,” police stated.

Police have positively identified the suspect who stole the motorcycle and the Dodge Ram as 22-year-old Dylan Arrington, one of the escapees from the Raymond Detention Center.

The vehicle was last seen heading south on I-55 in Terry. He is considered armed and dangerous.

The four detainees who escaped from the Raymond Detention Center over the weekend did so by climbing through the roof of the jail.

Casey Grayson, 24, Corey Harrison, 22, Dylan Arrington, 22, and Jerry Raynes, 51, were discovered missing from the detention center early Sunday morning.

None of the escapees have been located as of Monday afternoon.

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