JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A Hinds County jury has found a man guilty in connection with the deadly shooting of a woman on Interstate 55.
The accused, Carlos Varnell, was found guilty of murder, aggravated assault and shooting into an occupied vehicle that left 28-year-old Miesha Robinson dead and 27-year-old Cierra Rhymes seriously injured.
During the trial, Rhymes positively identified Varnell as the person who pursued the victims’ vehicle and fired the shots. Evidence also established that he was the sole occupant and driver of the vehicle used in the attack in October 2021.
Varnell will be sentenced on April 13, 2026, at 3 p.m.
He faces life in prison in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
On October 24, 2021, officers with the Jackson Police Department responded to a disturbance at 1401 Fortification Street, near a local Mexican restaurant, involving the victims and an associate of Varnell.
Varnell then followed the victims to Rhymes’ apartment complex and later chased them from the complex onto I-55.
During the chase, he began shooting into their vehicle multiple times, striking Rhymes in the back and Robinson in the stomach, killing Robinson.
Varnell fled the scene and traveled to Arkansas, where he was later arrested.
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