Neshoba, MS: Girlfriend charged with man's murder

Victim shot in head dies day later at UMC after domestic quarrel
By DEBBIE BURT MYERS
Managing Editor

Michael Deangelo Moore was remembered this week as having a special love for horses and dogs.

Moore, 23, was shot in the head early Sunday morning in what the authorities are calling a domestic dispute.

Tironza Jones, 28, of 10601 Road 632, Moore's girlfriend, was charged with murder Tuesday morning after Moore died a day earlier at University Medical Center.

Jones pulled a .38 pistol from her purse and shot him in the head while he was sitting in his S10 Chevrolet truck as it was parked beside the carport with the driver's door open at the house where they lived in the Forerstdale community, the authorities said.

Neshoba County Medical Examiner Allen Collins said Moore died shortly before noon on Monday.

Moore was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson after being shot one time in the head about 8:30 a.m. outside the house, said Neshoba County Sheriff Donnie Adkins.

Investigator Kevin Baysinger said Jones and Moore had a dispute inside the residence moments before the shooting occurred.

"She got her gun out of her purse and fired at his direction and struck him in the head," Baysinger said. "Moore fell over in the truck."

Jones then helped Moore get into her car and she drove to the vicinity of Bobby's Country Store on Mississippi 16 east where she met an ambulance which transported Moore to the county hospital, officials said.

The ambulance had been dispatched following a 911 call reporting that a shooting victim was being taken to the hospital by private vehicle from a residence on Road 632, Adkins said.

Moore, the son of Connie and Michael Moore, graduated from Philadelphia High School where classmates remembered him as always having a smile on his face.

Former Philadelphia resident Marcus Dupree said that Moore was a friend of his sons.

"Back when I was in Philadelphia and my kids in high school, we used to ride horses together with Mike," Dupree said. "We were around each other all the time. He had a love for horses and would go with me to horse shows and I got to be fond of him."

Dupree, too, recalled that Moore always had a smile on his face.

"He was just a good kid, a good kid to be around. He always helped my mom when I wasn't around. It hurts me that something like this has happened. I hadn't seen him in over a year."

Kenny Spencer recalled playing baseball with Moore at Westside Park when they were growing up.

He said Moore grew up on Evergreen Street.

"I've been knowing him since he was a kid," Spencer said. "We played baseball together at the park. He was a good guy who liked to play sports. He was a pretty good baseball player back then."

Spencer said he had lost track of Moore in recent years.

Moore's body was taken to the state Crime Lab where an autopsy will be performed, the medical examiner said.

Friend Jeremi Malone said Moore had a special love for dogs and horses.

"He raised pit bulls," Malone said. "Mike was a real nice person. He had a lot of friends."