Two Mississippi Officers Shot, Killed; Suspects Arrested

Oxford Police Department(HATTIESBURG, Miss.) — Police in Mississippi on Sunday arrested two brothers and a young woman in connection with the fatal shooting of two Hattiesburg police officers.

Marvin Banks, his younger brother, Curtis Banks and Joanie Calloway were charged in the shooting deaths of Hattiesburg officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate, who were killed late Saturday while conducting a traffic stop, said Warren Strain, the public affairs director for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Deen, 34, and Tate, 25, were wounded and later died from their injuries at Forest General Hospital, said Strain.

Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree called them “terrific police officers.”

“They were out there trying to make our communities as safe as they could be, and then they end up being murdered themselves,” he said.

Marvin Banks, 29, and Calloway, 22, both faced two counts of capital murder, among other charges, said Strain. He said Curtis Banks, 26, was charged with two counts of accessory after the fact after capital murder. At least one of the brothers had a criminal history, said DuPree.

DuPree said the arrests have brought relief to the officers’ families.

“I mean they’re heartbroken. The message they sent to us was, ‘Please find these people,’ and we honored that,” DuPree said.

The last time a Hattiesburg officer died in the line of duty was in 1984. According to the Hattiesburg Police Department, Sergeant Jacquelyn Kay “Jackie” Sherrill, 33, was killed when a suspect was resisting arrest.

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