HATTIESBURG, Miss. — For many in the small Mississippi community of Hattiesburg, the first death of an officer in the line of duty in three decades was a shock. Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, were shot and killed during a traffic stop late Saturday.
On Sunday morning a local judge, Tony Mozingo, stopped near the scene of the shooting with his wife and two daughters to leave some red roses in commemoration of the officers killed.
Three suspects face court appearances Monday. Two suspects faces charges of capital murder.
The last officer to fall was Sgt. Jackie Dole Sherrill, who was killed on New Year’s Eve in 1984 while trying to serve a warrant on a suspect.
___
8:08 a.m.
A law enforcement official says three people have been arrested and two of them have been charged with capital murder in the fatal shootings of two Mississippi police officers during a weekend traffic stop in Hattiesburg.
Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, tells The Associated Press that 29-year-old Marvin Banks and 22-year-old Joanie Calloway have each been charged with two counts of capital murder, and Banks’ 26-year-old brother, Curtis Banks, has been charged with two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder.
Strain also says Marvin Banks also faced other charges. He says officers arrested the three Hattiesburg residents at different locations overnight without resistance following Saturday night’s fatal shooting.
It wasn’t immediately known if those arrested had lawyers.
