Michael ‘Traedo’ Thomas pleads guilty to homicide, awaits June 27 sentencing

NATCHEZ — Michael “Traedo” Thomas, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree homicide in the 2022 shooting death of Johnny Ricardo Mason.

Thomas was on the run for 24 hours before turning himself in to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. Thomas shot and killed Mason on Jan. 4, 2022, near Holiday Apartments in Natchez. Natchez Police officials at the time said other people, including children, were in the area when the shooting occurred.

Police said Mason identified Michael Thomas as his shooter before he died at Merit Health Natchez from a gunshot wound to the lower abdomen.

Thomas served five years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections for an aggravated assault charge beginning in 2018. He was released after serving three years of that sentence.

Thomas was arrested again in June 2021 after kidnapping his girlfriend at gunpoint. However, Natchez Police officials said the girlfriend “backpedaled” and refused to press charges.

Sixth Circuit District Attorney Tim Cotton said he has asked Thomas be sentenced to 40 years in the custody of MDOC.

Sixth Circuit Court Judge Debra Blackwell has ordered a pre-sentencing investigation. Thomas’s sentencing is scheduled for June 27 in Circuit Court in Adams County.

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