An intruder who went into a Mississippi home armed with three guns and wearing a bulletproof vest took a woman hostage and later shot two police officers, killing one and wounding the other during an eight-hour standoff Thursday that ended in his death, police said.
The violence took place in the Jackson suburb of Brandon, where officers had called in backup from several law enforcement agencies; among them was Madison Police Department officer Randy Tyler, who was shot twice in the chest with a rifle, said Brandon Police Chief Wayne Dearman.
Tyler had worked for eight years as an officer in Madison, another Jackson suburb. The Madison department said he was a member of its special response team and directed the training of newly hired officers. Tyler previously retired as police chief in nearby Ridgeland.
The shooter was identified as 22-year-old Gabriel Matthew Wilson of Pearl, Mississippi, said Dearman at a news conference.
Brandon police received a call at 1:20 a.m. that a man in a tactical vest with two handguns and a rifle was trying to break into a home that had two women inside, Dearman said. He said investigators believe that one of the women in the home was Wilson’s girlfriend.
The chief said one woman escaped quickly and Wilson held the other one hostage until police brought him water that he demanded. Officers left the water inside the house and walked out, and the hostage escaped unharmed.
“From our conversations with him, he was there and he was looking for a fight,” Dearman said.
Wilson's mother was at the scene assisting police in talking to her son, the chief said.
The wounded officer works for Brandon Police Department. Dearman did not release that officer's name but said he was shot in the side while wearing a bulletproof vest.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is examining the case, as it does with most shootings of or by law enforcement officers in the state. After the investigation is finished, MBI will give its findings to the state attorney general's office, said Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bailey Martin.
