Ultimately, the blame for an early-morning shooting Easter Sunday inside the Vicksburg Convention Center lies with the low-life who decided it would be prudent to shoot a gun inside a crowded, public convention facility. What could have been going through the shooter’s head?

Apparently, very little.

Police said Everett Defrance got into a fight with another person and tried to shoot that person. Defrance was jailed and charged with attempted aggravated assault. Three other men were charged with shooting outside the facility.

If that makes one take a deep breath, it should.

Officials have said “500-plus” people were in the center’s main hall when the shooting happened. The center will hold 2,000 people, and the promoter has said the event was sold out.

In the shooting, a bullet was lodged in the ceiling. By the grace of God that bullet was not lodged in someone’s body. The damage, though, extends past a ceiling tile. The reaction in a crowd when gunshots are heard is to flee and flee fast. Chaos easily can take over the situation. Mayhem might have ensued.

Also alarming is Vicksburg police Chief Walter Armstrong’s insistence that information not be released to the public because it might have impeded the investigation. He told police spokesman, Capt. Bobby Stewart, to purposely hold this information.

Within minutes of the shooting, Defrance had been arrested and held in police custody. We are aware that investigations need to play out, but if the main suspect has been charged on a Sunday, what is the rationale for not alerting the residents of this town on Monday morning?

The Vicksburg Post has been the newspaper of record in this county for 129 years. Not all the news is a bouquet of roses. The people, though, have the right to know promptly when a shooting happens at a public event at Vicksburg’s largest convention venue. In the 15 years since it was built, this is the first shooting inside the facility — or at least the first the public has been told about. People need to know about such incidents. Holding that information all day Monday is shameful.

Armstrong’s handling of this case also begs the question of what else he chooses not to release for whatever reason. We hope this is not a common occurrence within the police department, but forgive us our skepticism.

Armstrong is ultra-quick to parade in front of television cameras to announce large drug busts or high-profile arrests — things that make the department sparkle in front of a statewide audience. But when a miscreant decides to shoot inside the convention center — an act that made the city do anything but sparkle — he sits on a timely release of the information.

While we blame the shooter for his actions, we condemn the police department for what appears to be the covering up of an unpleasant story that affected not just the “500-plus” who were in attendance, but the thousands who have entered — and we hope in the future — will enter the convention center.

Chief, you have the chance to do better.