Gulfport, MS: Ex-girlfriend arrested in killing

Woman accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend

By ROBIN FITZGERALD - rfitzgerald@sunherald.com

GULFPORT — Katrina Sargent’s sisters said they would have tried to put a stop to her relationship with a man if they’d realized she was in danger from her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.
Sargent, 30, a stay-at-home mother of three children, was shot early Saturday in front of her residence on West Virginia Avenue. Police a short while later arrested Twonia Renee Williams, 45, on a murder charge with a $2.5 million bond.
Police Sgt. Chris Ryle said investigators believe Williams traveled to the residence of her ex-boyfriend’s current girlfriend and shot Sargent during an argument around 1:15 a.m.

Sargent’s family said she was wounded by a single shot after she stepped outside her apartment to tell Williams to leave.
They said Sargent’s children, her boyfriend and 24-year-old niece were inside the apartment when Sargent was shot.
The apartment is at the L.C. Jones public housing complex.
“It would have been hard to lose my sister if she had just died,” said Debra Willis, one of Sargent’s sisters. “But knowing she was murdered makes it very hard.”
“She (Williams) probably regrets it,” said Willis, a former high school classmate of Williams. “I’ve never known her to be violent. But when the one you love doesn’t love you, that’s the hurting part.”
Friends and family later Saturday gathered to grieve farther north on West Virginia at the home of Sargent’s mother.
Most visited outside, where a barrel was kept stoked with wood for the warmth of a fire.
They described Sargent as a loving mother who never let anyone go hungry and often offered food to neighbors.
“She barbecued nearly every weekend,” Willis said.
Relatives said Sargent was married but was separated from her husband. Her children and niece lived with her. The boyfriend had moved in less than a week ago, Willis said.
Sargent’s mother said she was too upset to talk but asked for prayers.
Sargent had two boys, ages 12 and 8, and a 9-year-old girl. She also is survived by five sisters and three brothers.
Willis and another sister, Barbara McCall, said the network of family and friends spread the word of the shooting and they gathered at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, hoping for the best.
“It was one shot in the brain,” Willis said, pointing to her own cheek. “She didn’t make it.”
Police said Williams fled after the shooting and was taken into custody at a home in the North Bel-Aire subdivision.
She is held at the Harrison County jail on a bond set by Justice Court Judge Gene Dedeaux.