U.S.

4 Arrested After 2 Mississippi Police Officers Are Killed During Traffic Stop

By ASHLEY SOUTHALLMAY 10, 2015

Waynetta Theodore, Alberta Harris and Christiena Preston on Sunday at a makeshift memorial near where two police officers were shot the night before in Hattiesburg, Miss. CreditRogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

Law enforcement officials in Mississippi said Sunday that they had arrested four people after the fatal shooting of two police officers in Hattiesburg, and that two of the suspects had been charged with capital murder.

The officers were shot about 8 p.m. Saturday during a traffic stop, the police said. They were taken to Forrest General Hospital, where they died shortly after their arrival.

The Forrest County coroner, Butch Benedict, identified the officers as Benjamin Deen, 34, a K-9 officer, and Liquori Tate, 25, a 2014 graduate of the police academy. One of their police cars was stolen after the shooting and was found abandoned a few blocks away, investigators said.

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety announced on Sunday that Marvin Banks, 29, and Joanie Calloway, 22, had each been charged with two counts of capital murder, and that Mr. Banks’s brother, Curtis Banks, 26, had been charged with two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder. At a news conference on Sunday afternoon, the mayor of Hattiesburg, Johnny L. DuPree, said a fourth suspect had been arrested. He was identified as Cornelius Clark, 28. Officials said Mr. Clark, who was charged with obstruction of justice, had been a passenger in the vehicle at the time of the shooting.

“We were able to catch these individuals and keep our promise to the officers’ families with the public’s help,” Mr. DuPree said at the news conference. “No parent wants to bury their child before them,” the mayor added. “And here we are on Mother’s Day. It’s a tragedy for all America. It’s a tragedy for our community.”

A spokesman for the Hattiesburg Police Department, Lt. Jon Traxler, said that both brothers are residents of Hattiesburg, and that each had been convicted of felony drug and weapons charges.

The shooting was still being investigated Sunday, and the authorities could provide only limited details. The fatal encounter began in an industrial area when Officer Deen pulled over a motorist for speeding, officials said. Ms. Calloway was in the driver’s seat and that Marvin Banks was a passenger, said Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Officer Tate arrived after Officer Deen radioed for backup, and they put a call out for more help just before shots were fired from the stopped vehicle, Mr. DuPree said.

The suspects fled after the shooting, Mr. Strain said — Ms. Calloway in the vehicle that was stopped and Mr. Banks in one of the police cruisers.

Curtis Banks, left, and Marvin Banks were arrested in connection with the fatal shooting, authorities said.CreditOxford Police Department

In addition to the capital murder charges, Marvin Banks was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and with grand theft.

Ms. Calloway was arrested at a nearby convenience store, and Marvin Banks was taken into custody about 1:15 a.m. Sunday at a motel in the area, officials said. Curtis Banks was arrested about 3 a.m. Sunday at an apartment in Hattiesburg.

A car found at the motel, a Hyundai sedan with retired Army license plates, was impounded for processing as evidence, Mr. Strain said.

The suspects were being held in separate jails outside Forrest County until a court appearance scheduled for Monday.

Before being transported to separate jails, the suspects were taken to the Mississippi Highway Patrol offices in Hattiesburg for questioning. As Curtis Banks was led inside, he sobbed loudly and, in response to a question from a reporter, denied killing the officers, The Hattiesburg American reported. The exchange was captured on a video that was posted on the newspaper’s website.

Law enforcement officials at the site of a shooting late Saturday in Hattiesburg, Miss., that killed two police officers. CreditRyan Moore/WDAM-TV, via Associated Press

“No, sir, I didn’t do it,” Mr. Banks said in the video.

The shooting brought the number of officers killed in the line of duty in Hattiesburg, which has a population of about 48,000, to six. Before Saturday, the last Hattiesburg officer to die on patrol was Sgt. Jackie Dole Sherrill, who was killed on New Year’s Eve in 1984 while trying to serve a warrant.

A memorial service for Officer Deen and Officer Tate is scheduled for Monday afternoon at the Lake Terrace Convention Center in Hattiesburg, city officials announced on Twitter.

The Hattiesburg Police Department said it had canceled an annual memorial service on Wednesday morning that in the past had honored the previous four officers killed in the line of duty. Officer Deen, who was the Police Department’s officer of the year in 2012, had a wife and two children. Officer Tate, who was single, had joined the police force less than a year ago.

On June 11, Officer Tate posted on his Facebook page: “I graduated the police academy today. I am now a police officer.”

After Officer Tate earned his badge, his father, Ronald Tate, often posted his own comments on Facebook, telling his son “to be safe.”

This weekend, the father took to Facebook to grieve.

“Well Lord, I have been praying that it was all just a mistake,” he wrote. “My baby ... I just need some kind of mercy right now.”