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3 Suspects In Custody Following Fatal Shooting Of Mississippi Officers

This combination of undated photos released the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation shows, Marvin Banks, left, and his brother Curtis Banks. The brothers have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of two Hattiesburg, Miss., police officers on Saturday.
AP

Updated at 9 a.m. EDT

Three suspects are in custody following the fatal shooting of two police officers in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Saturday, NPR's Russell Lewis reports.

According to The Associated Press: "Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said a Hattiesburg officer had stopped a 2000 Gold Cadillac Escalade about 8:30 p.m. CDT Saturday, a second officer arrived to help him and shots were fired. Those were reported to be the first deaths on the Hattiesburg police force in three decades."

The two officers died from their injuries after arriving at the hospital. Strain identified the suspects as Curtis Banks, 26, and his brother, 29-year-old Marvin Banks. Later, Strain said a third suspect, Joanie Callaway, 22, was also arrested. Marvin Banks and Callaway were charged with two counts each of murder and Curtis Banks with being an accessory after the fact of capital murder.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports:

"Lamar County authorities arrested Marvin Banks at a motel shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. His vehicle, a Hyundai Azera Limited with retired Army military license plate, was taken to Troop J.

"Curtis Banks was arrested around 3 a.m. at an apartment complex."

The AP quotes a Hattiesburg police spokesman as saying the officers killed were 34-year-old Benjamin Deen and 25-year-old Liquori Tate. Local reports identified Deen as a past department "Officer of the Year" and Tate as a newcomer to the force, AP says.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
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