A 25-year-old man was arrested in Mississippi and accused of shooting and killing two children and then holding a third child hostage at gunpoint during a standoff with police.

Deputies arrested Marquez Griffin of Clarksdale on Monday night, January 9, and charged him with two counts of murder and aggravated assault for the deaths of two children, a one-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy.

The Coahoma County Sheriff’s Office released a statement saying they were called by someone who said that children had been shot at the Summit Garden Apartment Complex located in Jonestown, Mississippi, about 65 miles from Memphis, Tennessee.

Officers who arrived at the scene confronted Griffin while he was holding another child hostage at gunpoint after having allegedly killed the others.

The sheriff’s deputies tried to negotiate with Griffin, and he eventually agreed to release the child and dropped his weapon. Officers immediately detained him and arrested him.

After securing him physically, officers searched the home and were shocked to find two children who had sustained gunshot wounds before law enforcement arrived.

One of the children was pronounced dead at the scene, and police rushed the other child to a nearby hospital where the child was pronounced dead.

One of the victims was a one-year-old girl, Averi Jones. 

Averi’s devastated grandmother, Melrose Haile, spoke to the news media about the tragedy and provided more details.

Haile said the child’s mother told her that the little girl was asleep when Griffin put a pillow over her little head and shot her. No motive was given. 

The grandmother said that Averi’s mother told her that she and Griffin were “friends” and that several other children were in the house at the time of the shootings.

The distraught grandmother questioned the relationship between her daughter and Griffin, wondering how a “friend” could do such a thing.

Police transported Griffin to the Adult Detention Center in Coahoma County, where he is currently detained.

The sheriff’s office said Griffin’s motive is unclear and further details have not been released. The case is under investigation.