Police Shooting 2015: Two Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Police Officers Shot To Death; Suspects Identified

This story has been updated.

Update, Sunday, 8:55 a.m. EDT: Authorities have arrested a third suspect -- Joanie Calloway, 22 -- in connection with the shooting deaths of two police officers who were making a traffic stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Saturday night, the Associated Press reported. Previously detained were Curtis Banks, 26, and Marvin Banks, 29.

A Mississippi Department of Public Safety representative told AP Calloway and Marvin Banks were charged with two counts of capital murder and that Curtis Banks was charged with two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder.

Update, Sunday, 7:15 a.m. EDT: Curtis Banks and Marvin Banks, the suspects in the shooting deaths of on-duty police officers Benjamin J. Deen and Liquori Tate in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Saturday night are in police custody Sunday morning, CNN reported. Both suspects have criminal records.

In the wake of the shootings, the suspects fled in a stolen police vehicle, which they subsequently abandoned, the cable-news network said.

Update, Sunday, 3:57 a.m. EDT: One of the two suspects identified in the shooting deaths of two on-duty police officers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Saturday, has been caught, according to the Sun Herald in Biloxi. He was detained around 1 a.m. local time (2 a.m. EDT) and is being questioned, the report said.

The investigation of the case has been handed over to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Sun Herald reported, citing Lt. Jon Traxler of the Hattiesburg Police Department.

Update, Sunday, 2:02 a.m. EDT: The two on-duty police officers killed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Saturday have been identified as Benjamin J. Deen and Liquori Tate, the Clarion-Ledger reported, citing Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict.

Deen, 34, was an officer with the K-9 unit who was named the Hattiesburg Police Department's Officer of the Year in 2012, the report said. It added that Tate, 25, was a recent graduate of the police academy.

"I graduated the Police Academy today. I am now a Police Officer. I would like to thank God, the Police Academy, the Police Department, my family, friends, and love ones," Tate reportedly wrote on his Facebook page in June 2014.

Update, Sunday, 12:40 a.m. EDT: Local officials have named two suspects in the shooting deaths of two on-duty police officers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Saturday, the Clarion-Ledger reported.

Hattiesburg residents Curtis Banks and Marvin Banks have been named suspects in the killings -- the first such killings in the southern Mississippi town since 1984 -- and authorities have launched a search for the two men.

"Thirty years ago was the last time that this has happened in Hattiesburg, and we've had a lot to happen over the past 15 years with tornadoes and storms," Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree reportedly said. "But you never want this to happen."

The officers, who have not been identified, were on a routine traffic stop near East Fourth and Bouie streets around 8 p.m. when they were shot, the report said.

Original Article Appears Below

Two police officers were shot to death Saturday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and authorities were searching for the gunman. The Hattiesburg American reported the suspect may have fled in a police vehicle, which was found abandoned at an old train depot.

The officers were taken to Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg where they were pronounced dead, the Forrest County coroner told the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson. The identities of the officers were not immediately released.

Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree asked area residents to remain home while a search for the gunman was under way. The killings -- the first fatal shootings of on-duty officers in Hattiesburg in about 30 years -- occurred about 8 p.m. local time (9 p.m. EDT).