The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is investigating a Monday night shooting in Greenwood in which three police officers were injured, according to a statement released Tuesday from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
MBI is assessing the incident and gathering evidence and will then share that information with the state Attorney General’s Office, according to the statement.
Around 9 p.m. Monday, Greenwood police officers responded to a call on Cotton Street at Crestview Apartments to perform a welfare check on a “Life Help patient" there when the patient allegedly experienced a mental health episode and opened fire on them with an automatic assault rifle, according to a statement released Tuesday morning on Mayor Kenderick Cox’s Facebook page.
Officer Hollis Myrick and Lt. John Newton only sustained minor injuries, but Sgt. Bryan May was struck in the shoulder. May was first taken to Greenwood Leflore Hospital for care and then transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where he underwent successful surgery Tuesday morning, according to the mayor’s statement.
Cox said Tuesday that May was doing fine and was expected to be released from UMMC later in the day.
Authorities were able to apprehend the person behind the shooting. According to the state Department of Public Safety, he had barricaded himself inside the home before he was arrested.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety declined to answer further questions regarding the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. And as of Tuesday morning, no one had been charged, according to a review of the Greenwood Police Department’s arrest docket.
Cox said authorities told him the weapon used in the shooting was an AR15.
“This was an isolated incident,” he said. “I hate that the parties were injured in the process.”
He said that the incident was “a mental health issue.”
“We take those issues very seriously,” he said. “We’re focused on not only protecting the community but the men and women in blue. We’re continuing to educate ourselves (to become) knowledgeable about how to combat these various incidents.”
- Gerard Edic is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact him at 662-581-7237 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com. You can support his work with a tax-deductible donation at bit.ly/3G7iXiy.
