Tree-lighting ceremony honors crime victims in Mississippi
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Christmas tree in a Mississippi government building has been decorated to honor crime victims.
Attorney General Jim Hood and Gov. Phil Bryant spoke to more than 100 people Tuesday at a tree-lighting ceremony in the Gartin building, near the state Capitol in Jackson.
The tree holds more than 600 ornaments with photos of crime victims. Some of the people were shot to death. Others were killed in different ways.
Lisa Donegan's 21-year-old son, Tray Williams, was on his way home from work in July 2014 when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver in northern Mississippi's Pontotoc County. Several ornaments on the tree are honoring Williams' memory.
Donegan says her son "loved to be the life of the party." She moved to Arlington, Texas, after he was killed.
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