Fatal shooting of woman at Jackson red light appears random

Jackson police are at a loss for information on why a man walked up to a car at a traffic light at the corner of State and Fortification streets Thursday night and fired a single shot into the driver's side window before walking away and leaving behind a woman, dead, in the driver's seat.

Based on what detectives know right now, the fatal shooting appears to be completely random, JPD Cmdr. Tyree Jones said Friday morning.

More: In 2015 two women were killed in random shootings

The driver of the white Pontiac G6 at the light, Chelsie Lynn Kirschten, 23, was shot and killed at the intersection just before 11:48 p.m. Thursday. A female passenger in the front seat was unharmed.

More: GoFundMe account set up for family of shooting victim Chelsie Kirschten

The shooter used a silver handgun and fired one shot into the driver's side window. Kirschten was shot once in the upper back and died at the scene.

Kirschten's death is Jackson's 37th homicide investigation for 2017.

Jones said investigators have yet to find any personal connection between the shooter and the driver. Nothing was found stolen. The motive, a mystery.

Also read: Man accused of shooting 3-year-old boy in the leg

The shooter is described vaguely as a black male who wore dark clothing and possibly a hoodie. The victim was white. When asked if drugs or race were involved as a possible motive, Jones said there was no information pointing to that and he didn't want to speculate.

When asked if the shooting could have been a gang initiation, Jones again said he did not want to speculate.

After Kirschten was shot at the intersection, she managed to drive the car toward I-55 where it finally came to rest near the interstate, police said.

According to the victim's Facebook profile, Kirschten is from Brandon and went to Brandon High School. The profile also says she worked at Twin Peaks Restaurant.

Paul Howard worked with Kirschten since Twin Peaks first opened in 2014. She last worked Sunday night then had lunch at the restaurant earlier this week. She was scheduled to work Friday morning.

"It was just a shock that that happened," Howard said. "Everybody is still grieving ... I was surprised as many girls showed up for work today as they did. They're doing the best they can. There's been a lot of times where people have need to take (time) and collect themselves, including myself."

Howard said Kirschten was close with her family and was working two jobs to put herself through school. There's no shortage of descriptions to talk about the woman who was always smiling and going out of her way to take care of others.

"She was really fun, a good sense of humor, a little bit sarcastic and not afraid to hold back," Howard said. "She would let you have it and joke around. She was a great girl but she had a problem with always being late. She would come in here 10 minutes late and, somehow, she would go from me being mad at her to me laughing with her because she knew how to make me smile, how to make everyone smile."

Jones said the random nature of the shooting is not common in Jackson and warned residents to always be hyper aware of their surroundings.

JPS is asking for the public's help in locating the suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call JPD at 601-960-1234 or 601-355-8477.

Contact Steven Ward at 601-961-7075 or sward2@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter.