Autopsy shows no trauma

Published 10:26 am Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The state crime lab has confirmed that the Lincoln County inmate who died Saturday suffered no physical trauma.

Jimmy Lyons, 32, who had been accused of shooting three children and their parents in March, was found unresponsive in his bed at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. At that point he was transported to King’s Daughters Medical Center. Deputy Coroner Robert Tyler said the time of death was 10:15 a.m.

Tyler said he received a progress report Tuesday from the state crime lab saying that the body showed no signs of trauma. The crime lab is currently waiting on a toxicology report. Tyler estimated the results could take six weeks.

Lyons

Lyons

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Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said Lyons appeared fine when he was served breakfast at 7:30 a.m. the day he died.

Lyons had been in custody since March 13 for the murder of 9-year-old Jamiyah Sims and her father Jermaine Sims Sr. He was also charged with aggravated assault for allegedly shooting Victoria Sims, 14-year-old Takial Sims and 6-year-old Jermaine Sims Jr.

A grand jury had yet to indict Lyons.

On March 13 at 12:20 a.m. Brookhaven police responded to a call about an injured woman lying in the road. On arrival officers found Victoria Sims, who had been shot in the chest. Two children, Takial and Jermaine Jr., were with her. Takial had been shot in the chest and arm, and Jermaine Jr. had been shot in the head.

Once backup arrived, police entered the Sims’s home, where Lyons was taken into custody and transported to BPD. The officers also found Jermaine Sr. and Jamiyah in the house.

Lyons was living with the family in a house at 1088 South First St. where the shooting occurred. Police Chief Bobby Bell said that further investigation found that the incident began not from an altercation but was the result of a conversation earlier that day that the perpetrator, Lyons, thought about and later took action on.

Doris Harris, Lyons’s aunt, said that Lyons suffered from mental illness and had suffered mental and physical abuse throughout his life.

“Although I feel bad for the victims, my nephew was also a victim,” she said. “It was wrong, and I hate that happened.”