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(Reuters) – Two policemen were shot dead in a southern Mississippi town during a shootout with a 25-year-old man before dawn on Saturday, officials said.
A combined photo of patrolman James White, 35, and Corporal Zach Moak, 31, can be found on these undated photos in Brookhaven, Mississippi, United States, on September 29, 2018. Mississippi Public Safety Department / via REUTERS
Police officers in Brookhaven, less than 100 kilometers south of Jackson, had gone to a house to respond to a report that gunshots had been fired, said the spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Warren Strain.
It was not immediately clear what led to the exchange of gunfire between the officers and the suspect.
The two officers, 31-year-old Corporal Zack Moak and 35-year-old patrolman James White were taken to a Brookhaven hospital where they were pronounced dead, Strain said in an email.
The 25-year-old suspect, Marquis Aaron Flowers, who lives near the house where the shooting took place, was wounded in the shooting and later taken to a Jackson hospital.
Flowers's medical condition was not immediately known and it was unclear if he had a lawyer. A shooting investigation is underway.
The Brookhaven Police Chief did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant on Twitter has called on people to pray for "the family and loved ones of these fallen heroes".
Report by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Edited by Matthew Lewis
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