Hattiesburg man shot, killed by security guard during incident at chicken-processing plant

JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) — A security guard may have saved the lives of others Wednesday afternoon after shooting and killing an armed man in the parking lot of a Jones County chicken-processing plant.

Jones County Coroner Burl Hall said Wednesday night that 21-year-old Lorenzo Hawthorne, of Hattiesburg, died outside the facility at Southern Hens., Inc,, on Moselle-Seminary Road after an exchange of gunfire with a company security guard.

Hall said the body will be sent to the state Crime Lab for autopsy.

The security guard had not been identified Wednesday.

In a statement issued early Wednesday evening, Southern Hens., Inc., said the incident started about 2 p.m. that afternoon as a workplace dispute.

“On January 29, 2025, at about 2:00 pm, at its plant in Moselle, Mississippi, an employee of Southern Hens had a dispute with another worker at the plant and left the secured area of the plant and retrieved a gun from the parking lot,” the statement read. “ He fired at least five shots in the parking lot area and when he turned the gun on the plant security guard, he was shot and killed by the guard.”

The release said Jones County Sheriff’s Department personnel were on-site. The company said all nonessential employees at the plant were released for the remaining work day as soon as it was cleared by JCSD.

The company said all employees who may have witnessed the encounter will be offered counseling.

“Thoughts and prayer go out to the families affected by this shooting,” the statement concluded.

JCSD Investigator Stephen Graeser confirmed that the shooter was a Southern Hens’ employee.

Graeser said the shooter fired multiple rounds with an AR-15-style rifle outside into vehicles where workers were.

Workers fled the scene, and no one was hurt at that time, Graeser said.

Graeser said the shooter than tried to make his way into the plant, where he was confronted by security.

Multiple rounds were exchanged between the shooter and a security guard, with the shooter dying from gunshot wounds, Graeser said.

Some Southern Hens employees were calling the security guard a hero.

“The guy got fired from his job,” Southern Hens employee Kelvin Snyder said. “He got mad, went out to his truck, got a gun … he shot off three shots, he missed.

“The security guard jumped up and ran behind the guard shack. He shot off three more shots, he missed. The security guard jumped up and hit him in the chest and the top … He was planning to come inside the plant. Like I seen him. He was walking, fixin’ to come in the plant, and they stopped him.

“They stopped him with two shots.”

The shooting remains under investigation.