MS Free Press: “On May 15, 1970, Jackson State University senior Mabel Beecham, 21, was staying with her sister-in-law at her apartment on Montgomery Street, close to Jackson State’s campus. Suddenly, she could hear a barrage of shots fire off. She took cover and stayed inside all night with no idea of the tragedy that would greet her the following day. Telephones weren’t in abundance, so she found out what happened by word of mouth.
The night of May 15, the Jackson Police Department and Mississippi Highway Patrolmen opened fire on Alexander Hall, a women’s dormitory and killed Jackson State pre-law major Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, and James Earl Green, 17, a high school senior at Jim Hill High School. Twelve other students were injured. The Gibbs-Green shooting occurred 11 days after the Kent State shooting in Ohio, which gained national attention.
It took two weeks before students were able to return to campus, Beecham said…On top of the tragic loss of Gibbs and Green, the school cancelled graduation for the class of 1970. …
Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba presented an official apology to the families of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green. It was the first time city officials had apologized to the families since the tragedy.
“The City of Jackson recognizes and offers our heartfelt and genuine apology to the families of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green for the Jackson Police Department’s role in their untimely deaths,” he told the crowd.”