Residents of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, prepared for a day of mourning on Monday, for two police officers who were shot dead on Saturday night during a routine traffic stop.
The four people charged in connection to the shooting were scheduled to appear in court for the first time the same day.
A memorial for the two fallen officers, Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, was planned for Monday afternoon. They were the first officers to be killed in the line of duty in the city since 1984.
The shooting occurred after Deen stopped a car for speeding and then called Tate in for backup. Investigators said it was not yet clear which of the four people arrested shot the officers, or why.
US attorney general Loretta Lynch said in a statement that the Justice Department was ready to offer any aid the community may need to assist with the investigation.
She noted that it is Police Week, when the federal government and local municipalities honor officers killed in the line of duty.
“The murder of these young men is a devastating reminder that the work our brave police officers perform every day is extremely dangerous, profoundly heroic, and deeply deserving of our unequivocal support,” Lynch said. “All Americans owe these courageous citizens a debt of gratitude.”
Yolanda Ross, Tate’s mother, told CNN her son had always wanted to be a police officer. “Since he was young, playing with police cars and Xbox games and just having a protective spirit – that had always been one of his dreams,” she said.
The killing came after a series of high-profile police killings of unarmed black men triggered a national debate about policing and race. On Friday, thousands of police officers gathered in New York state for the funeral of 25-year-old officer Brian Moore, who was fatally shot in his car in New York city a week earlier.
Tate, who was known by most people as CoCo, graduated from the police academy in 2014. His stepfather, Bernell “Lonnie” Ross, told CNN Tate was a balanced, fun and respectful young man.
“I’m gonna remember that and miss that tremendously, how much he loved and how much he was loved and what a balanced young man he was,” Ross said. “He was a great example and a very humane police officer – he knew how to treat people with dignity and great humanity.”
Ross said the thing that he would remember most is how Tate’s three siblings would react whenever he came into the house.
“It’s like a rockstar walked into the house,” he said.
Tate’s sister Alonté, who is 11 months younger, was the last family member he spoke with before he died. She had accidentally triggered an emergency alert on her phone that contacts her brother, who she said was very protective and taught her how to be safe.
“I didn’t know that would be the last time I’d hear his voice,” she said.
Early on Sunday morning, Marvin Banks, 29, and Joanie Calloway, 22, were charged with two counts of capital murder in connection to the shooting. Banks is also charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and grand theft, because he fled from the scene in the police cruiser.
Banks’s 26-year-old brother, Curtis Banks, was charged on two counts of being an accessory to murder after the fact. Cornelius Clark, 28, was arrested on an obstruction of justice charge on Sunday afternoon.
The mother of the two brothers charged in the killing told the Associated Press her son, Marvin, had mental problems and was a drug addict.
Mary Smith said her son smoked “spice” daily and has been hearing voices since being hit in the head with a pipe several years ago. She said her son looked high in photos taken after his arrest. Smith said she was positive he had killed the officers.
“You could tell something was wrong with him,” she said. “I hate it for these families that he wasn’t in his right mind.”
The last officer to be killed in Hattiesburg was Jackie Dole Sherrill, who was killed in 1984 while trying to serve a warrant on a suspect. Her daughter, Erica Sherrill Owens, told the AP she had gone to the same high school as Deen, graduating the year after him.
“We were great friends in high school. He married his high school sweetheart and he’s got two kids and a great family,” she said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”
