JACKSON Reporter R.L. Nave is on the scene outside the Jackson Police Department downtown where officers confirmed to media that both a JPD officer and a suspect are dead inside on the third floor. A homicide detective was interviewing a murder suspect on the 3rd floor when shots were fired, police say, and both the suspect and a police officer died from gunshot wounds.
We're getting reports that were texted from people who were inside the building that it was a homicide detective interviewing a suspect who managed to get his gun. We have a name for the officer, but will not report it until independently confirmed and until family has been notified.
City spokesman Chris Mims said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is about to take over the investigation, which is standard procedure. He also said Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. will release a statement soon.
Jackson City Councilmen Chokwe Lumumba and Tony Yarber, District Attorney Robert Smith and Sheriff Tyrone Lewis stood with JPD Chief Rebecca Coleman as she announced that both the officer and the suspect were dead.
More details as they emerge.