Top Stories – Page 83 – The Mississippi Link

Lockheed-Martin remembers deadly shooting anniversary

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the July 8, 2003 workplace shooting at the Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian, where Douglas Williams, 48 shot 14 co-workers, killing six of them before committing suicide.

The memory of that event is still fresh for investigators with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office who responded to the call.

“We were living the nightmare all law enforcement agencies have,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie said. “Every year I relive this event. I can see the fleet of TV trucks that showed up from all over the nation. I can see the faces of the relatives of those who died. It isn’t a good memory.” […]

Sears store closing in Gautier

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The Sears and Sears Auto Center in Gautier will be closed for good in mid-October.

Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications with Sears Corporation, said in a press release received by The Sun Herald the store will begin a liquidation sale July 26.

Riefs says the 71 employees will have an opportunity to apply at other Sears and Kmart stores in the area.

He says store closures are part of a series of actions the company is taking to reduce ongoing expenses. […]

Jackson residents face arson charges

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Authorities said a weekend house fire in Jackson was intentionally set.

WAPT-TV reports that firefighters responded to the fire on Shady Circle on Sunday about 2 a.m.

Nobody was injured in the blaze. Authorities arrested 39-year-old Ernest Day and 19-year-old Hezekiah Beach.

The fire department said Day and Beach were taken to the Raymond Detention Center to await their initial court appearance on arson charges. […]

Police: Man claims assault after Zimmerman verdict

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Police are investigating claims that a man was assaulted in Senatobia, apparently in retaliation for the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.

Police Chief Steve Holts says a man called police about 11 p.m. Sunday, saying he has out jogging when forced into a car and beaten after an assailant asked if he knew who Trayvon Martin was.

The victim – whom police aren’t naming – is white. He says his assailants were black. The victim says he was dropped off on a road about three miles north of Senatobia in rural Tate County. […]

FBI Jackson Hosts Public Safety Training

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The Jackson Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations is facing their second day of their Active Shooter Executive Law Enforcement Conference in Starkville.

The conference, which began on Tuesday and will wrap up on Wednesday, July 17, is the second of at least three to be held in various locations in Mississippi.

The conference was developed pursuant to a 2013 White House training initiative and was designed to present local, tribal, federal, and state law enforcement partners with best crisis management practices and lessons learned in mass casualty/active shooter events. […]

Former officers sentenced for stealing govt. funds

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Two former law enforcement officers were sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee for theft of government funds and property.

Zach Robinson, a former deputy with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, and Kent Daniels, a former Jackson Police officer and investigator for the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office, were each sentenced to 12 months in federal prison.

They were also ordered to pay joint restitution in the amount of $21,996. […]

Settlement reached in death of Mississippi player

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The family of a Mississippi football player who died following a workout in 2010 has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit against the university and the NCAA.

Bennie Abram III, a 20-year-old non-scholarship player from Southaven, collapsed during an offseason workout and later died at a hospital in Oxford. An autopsy determined Abram’s death was caused by complications from sickle cell trait, which can alter red blood cells after strenuous exercise.

According to settlement documents, the family will receive $50,000 from the insurance company for the university’s athletic foundation. The Abrams’ attorney, Gene Egdorf of Houston, Texas, says the family also will receive $275,000 from the NCAA’s insurance policy. […]

DOJ to launch hate crime inquiry in case of George Zimmerman

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Although he is said to be in hiding after his acquittal in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, trouble for George Zimmerman appears to be far from over.

The Justice Department said Sunday that it was restarting its investigation into Martin’s death in 2012 to consider possible separate hate crime charges against Zimmerman.

Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot Martin was acquitted of all charges by a jury late Saturday. […]

Elderly Morton woman killed in freak accident

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Reportedly, no charges have been filed in a freak accident last month that claimed the life of 73-year-old Morton woman. WLBT reported that Catherine Westman was coming out of a nail salon when she was run over by a forklift in the parking lot of the Fairway Grocery store during the afternoon hours of June 12.

The forklift was being used to remove boxes.

Scott County Coroner Joe Bradford said Westman was taken to UMC in Jackson where she died in surgery. […]

Simpson County woman killed in accident

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A one car accident has claimed the life of a Simpson County woman.

Jefferson Davis County Deputy Coroner Kathy Stephens says the accident happened on Granby Road around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. That’s off Highways 84 and 35 near Prentiss.

The 24-year-old was driving a Ford Taurus when she lost control, left the roadway and hit a tree. […]