Video Shows Mississippi Police Headquarters Shooting: Report
Suspect shot and killed detective in interrogation room before killing self.
April 6, 2013— -- The moment a murder suspect overpowered a detective in a Jackson, Miss., police station and fatally shot him before taking his own life was captured on video, according to a report.
Authorities have video of the final interaction between Det. Eric Smith, 40, who was shot by suspect Jeremy Powell, 23, in an interrogation room at police headquarters, a source told The Associated Press.
Powell, who was arrested as a suspect connected to a murder, was being interrogated by Smith in a third floor interrogation room Thursday evening.
"We heard that shots had been fired," Jackson Police Chief Rebecca Coleman told ABC News' Jackson affiliate, WAPT-TV. "Upon our arrival, we found the suspect is deceased and we have a police officer deceased."
Flags flew at half-staff on Friday for Smith, a veteran police officer who began his career with the Jackson Police Department in 1995.
Smith was a veteran police officer who began working for the Jackson Police Department in 1995. He received the Jackson's Best Award in 2012, an award given in Jackson to city employees who go above and beyond the call of duty, WAPT reported.
"Over the next days and weeks, the Jackson Police Department and the Smith family are going to need for us to bond together. They're going to need for us to support them like never before," Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson told reporters.
"The men and women of the Jackson Police Department have the specter of danger over them each and every day," he said. "But no one can ever be prepared for this type of tragedy."
