ETOWAH — The Mississippi County sheriff says a teenager was killed after a tree he was standing by was struck by lightning.
Sheriff Dale Cook said 16-year-old Steven Shepherd was outside a church in the Carroll's Corner community Tuesday night when a storm began to move in. Cook said the teenager's mother was working at the church with others and began looking for him once they noticed he was missing.
Cook told The Jonesboro Sun that the teen was found facedown by a tree that had been struck by lightning.
The youth was taken to South Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Osceola, where he later died.