Two Bay St. Louis police officers died in the line of duty on Wednesday morning after doing a welfare check at Motel 6 on Highway 90.
According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), the officers — Sergeant Steven Robin and Officer Branden Estorffe — were shot in the motel’s parking lot by local veterinarian Amy Anderson, 43, of Ocean Springs.
The MBI released that the motel called 911 around 4:30 a.m., requesting for a welfare check to be made on Anderson in her hotel room. Upon arrival, Officers Robin and Estorffe encountered Anderson in her room before she made her way to her vehicle.
Anderson, also seen with a minor female, who Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said is likely to be her 10-year-old daughter. Additional details of the minor’s identity have not been released at this time.
After speaking to Anderson for around 30 minutes, the officers discussed contacting Child Protective Services (CPS), which was reported to be what caused Anderson to shoot. Both officers were injured in the incident, with Officer Robin dying at the scene and Officer Estorffe passing away later at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport.
Commissioner Tindell explained that the officers were considering contacting CPS due to Anderson’s odd behavior, as well as for the minor’s safety.
“Her behavior was, let’s just say, out of the norm,” Tindell said. “She wasn’t making a lot of sense in the things she was saying and the minor child was there.”
Anderson also died from a gunshot, but an autopsy is currently being made to determine if she committed suicide or if the round came from an officer’s gun.
“Because of the clothes she was wearing and the color, you couldn’t visually tell if there was any gunshot residue on her clothes,” Tindell explained.
Tindell added that a bulletproof vest would not have prevented the officers’ deaths due to the locations of the wounds.
“I’m not 100 percent sure about [if they would survive] based on the location of the wounds. I don’t know that the vest would have made much of a difference,” Tindell said.
A vigil will be held at Bay High Stadium on Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. for community members to attend. The Bay Waveland School District is asking attendees to bring their own candles and flashlights.
The post DPS Commissioner Tindell discusses Bay St. Louis shooting that left 2 police officers dead appeared first on SuperTalk Mississippi.