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Locals mourned two policemen shot dead over the weekend in a small Mississippi town, leaving in the honor of roses, balloons and American flags on Sunday, before the evening prayer vigil.
Candlelit service for Constable James White, age 35, and cap. Zach Moak, 31, was being organized outside the Brookhaven Police Department where the officers had been working. Every few minutes, people stopped in cars, leaving flowers, teddy bears and balloons not far from where their patrol cars were parked. Each car was adorned with an American flag and a crown on its grille.
On the Facebook page of the police department, Chief Kenneth Collins called on local residents to attend the vigil "and pay tribute to those young men who gave their lives," serving the city of more than 12,000 inhabitants located about 95 km south of the city. capital of the state of Jackson.
White and Moak were killed early Saturday.
Warren Strain of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said Sunday that the suspect, 25-year-old Marquis Flowers, had been hospitalized after being injured in the showdown. Strain said that charges were pending against Flowers and that the investigation was ongoing. He did not provide an update on the health status of Flowers.
Strain had previously said that the officers had been summoned to a house in Brookhaven around 5 am on Saturday to hear news of the shots. After an exchange of gunfire that left the two officers "fatally wounded", the two men were declared dead at a local hospital, Strain said. He identified the weapon used as a handgun, but did not specify the circumstances of the shooting.
On Sunday, the children jumped on a trampoline not far from the shooting scene in a Brookhaven duplex. What appeared to be several bullet holes in the aged blue duplex avoidance pathway were reported by investigators. What looked like bloodstains marked the pace of the earth.
Collins, the chief of Brookhaven, called White and Moak, two inhabitants of Lincoln County, heroes.
Friends of the officers said that they were preparing for their funeral.
Hanna Hux, a resident of Brookhaven who has known James since the age of 12, called him one of his "oldest and dearest friends". She stated that he was the first on the scene of the shooting and was surprised by his sudden death.
"Everyone needs to get together and support each other rather than fighting each other," she told the Associated Press after leaving flowers next to the cars of the two. officers. "We need a lot of prayers." Although she was unable to attend the Sunday vigil because of work, she added that she planned to attend James' funeral later in the week.
This is the second time in as many years that a law enforcement official was killed in the line of duty in the Brookhaven area. Last year, William Durr, deputy of the Lincoln County Sheriff, who also spent four years at the Brookhaven Police Department, was responding to a call when he was shot and killed. The authorities stated that the gunman shot and killed seven others during a kill in and around the Brookhaven area.
Willie Cory Godbolt was arrested on May 28, 2017 and is awaiting trial. He pleads not guilty and risks the death sentence if he is convicted.
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