Four face charges in shooting deaths of Mississippi officers

Associated Press

HATTIESBURG, Miss.

One was a decorated “Officer of the Year.” The other was a proud recent graduate of the police academy.

A routine traffic stop led to their shooting deaths Saturday night — the first Hattiesburg police officers to die in the line of duty in more than 30 years — and four suspects are in custoday, including two charged with capital murder.

The deaths of Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate stunned this small city in southern Mississippi.

A steady stream of residents came by the area where the shooting happened, leaving flowers or balloons to honor the fallen officers on Sunday.

Donna Nelson was one of them. She said she and her husband had just picked up their dinner and were returning home when they noticed an unusually large number of police officers out on the streets. When they heard what had happened they said their first instinct was to go out and look for the suspects.

Nelson said, “That is the most-disrespectful thing right there, to take the life of a law-enforcement officer. They put their lives on the line for us every day. To be taken out senselessly like this — that’s horrible.”

Alberta Harris heads the Briarfield Neighborhood Association next to where the shooting occurred. She said she knew both Officers Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, personally.

She said, “Both of them had a humble spirit. They cared about the people that they were serving and protecting.”

She said at a time when there is a huge focus on the use of force by police officers, incidents like this show the strain police officers are under.

“This shows what our police officers have to endure, just on a routine traffic stop.”

At the shooting scene, blood stained the street beside New Hope Baptist Church. Inside, members prayed both for the slain officers and their relatives during worship Sunday morning on Mother’s Day.

Dorothy Thompson, wife of the pastor, said, “It’s sad. It’s just a tragedy, going from one mother to another.” She added, “Every day is a bad day [for violence], but especially on a day like today.”

The U.S. flag flew at half-staff outside the Hattiesburg Police Department, and red roses placed on a concrete sign wilted under the hot afternoon sun.

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 slain officers.

Four suspects are expected to make their initial court appearances today at the Forest County Justice Court in Hattiesburg. Two of them face charges of capital murder.

Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Dept. of Public Safety, confirmed a fourth person was arrested Sunday afternoon on charges related to the shooting.

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.

Strain told 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.

Marvin Banks also was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and with grand theft for fleeing in the police cruiser after the shooting, Strain said.

“He absconded with a Hattiesburg police cruiser. He didn’t get very far, three or four blocks, and then he ditched that vehicle,” Strain said.

He said officers arrested the four Hattiesburg residents without resistance at various locations overnight after the shooting.

Strain said the fourth suspect, Cornelius Clark, 28, of Hattiesburg was charged with obstruction of justice. Authorities did not release any details on the charge.

A preliminary investigation indicated Deen had pulled over the vehicle on suspicion of speeding and then called for backup, which is when Tate arrived. Strain said it was too early to say who shot the officers or how many shots were fired.

Local reports identified Deen, 34, as a former “Officer of the Year” in Hattiesburg.

Tate, 25, grew up in a tough part of Starkville, 150 miles north of Hattiesburg. Strain said he was a 2014 graduate of the law-enforcement academy.

He was known to his friends as “CoCo,” said his stepfather, B. Lonnie Ross of Jackson, adding that Tate was 12 when they met and already wanted to be a policeman.

“He was the most respectful young man you would meet. It was a pleasure to meet someone so gentle and nice,” Ross said. “Everybody who met him liked him.”

Jarvis Thompson, who knew Tate from childhood, said he wanted to be a policeman to make a difference in the black community.

“He wanted to become an officer because we’ve seen so much of our peers get killed or end up in jail,” said Thompson, 24, of Starkville. “He was talking all the time about how he wanted to do better and make the place better.”

At a news conference, Mayor Johnny DuPree asked the community to pull together.

“We want to ask everybody to pray for these families. We want everybody to pray for police officers not only here but around the United States,” DuPree said.

A memorial service is planned for the two officers today.

It wasn’t immediately known if those arrested had lawyers.