A murder suspect being interviewed at the Jackson, Mississippi police headquarters shot a detective on Thursday, and those who came to investigate the gunfire found both men dead, authorities said and reported by CBSNews.com. The suspect was being questioned on the third floor of the building when the shooting broke, out, Police Chief Rebecca Coleman said. Police in Jackson have yet to release any details of the sequence, but the officer was identified as Detective Eric Smith, who was assigned to the Robbery-Homicide Division, and has been with the department since 1995.
Police identified the murder suspect as Jeremy Powell. Both the detective and the suspect were shot multiple times, the AP reported. Powell was in the process of being arrested in the killing of 20-year-old Christopher Alexander, news reports said.
"[Detective Eric Smith] was a decorated detective and well-respected law-enforcement person throughout the state of Mississippi,"city police spokesman Chris Mims said.
"He was in the processing of questioning that suspect," he added. "Other officers in the police department heard gunshots ring out and when they went to the interview room, discovered that both the suspect and the detective were deceased."
The police headquarters was on lockdown Thursday night, Mims said.
Jackson City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba was in police headquarters with the mayor afterward and said Smith was shot by the suspect. He did not know how the suspect ended up dead.
"I understand there may have been more than one police officer in the room," Lumumba said outside the police building.
"Detective Smith was an excellent officer in all respects," Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., who addressed the officer's death, said. "I want everyone to keep the Smith family in their prayer and in their thoughts."
Smith was married with two sons, Mississippi affiliate WJTV-TV said.
