According to eyewitnesses, a gunman stepped out of the crowd and fired at a group of spectators standing on the pavement watching a parade to commemorate Martin Luther King Day. One man was killed and three children standing nearby were seriously injured.

It's not clear what caused the shooting and whether or not it was even connected to the commemoration but, being the deep south and coming on such a sensitive anniversary, there were immediate suspicions that the attack was racially motivated. However, since the gunman appears to have been black as well as his victims, police say that race does not seem to be a factor.