2 Suspects In Custody Following Fatal Shooting Of Mississippi Officers

By Scott Neuman / NPR

Published May 10, 2015 at 2:09 AM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

This combination of undated photos released the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation shows, Marvin Banks, left, and his brother Curtis Banks. The brothers have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of two Hattiesburg, Miss., police officers on Saturday.

NPR's Russell Lewis reports that two suspects are in custody following the fatal shooting of two police officers in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Saturday.

According to The Associated Press: "Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said a Hattiesburg officer had stopped a 2000 Gold Cadillac Escalade about 8:30 p.m. CDT Saturday, a second officer arrived to help him and shots were fired. Those were reported to be the first deaths on the Hattiesburg police force in three decades."

The two officers died from their injuries after arriving at the hospital. Strain identified the suspects as Curtis Banks, 26, and his brother, 29-year-old Marvin Banks.

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The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports:

"Lamar County authorities arrested Marvin Banks at a motel shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. His vehicle, a Hyundai Azera Limited with retired Army military license plate, was taken to Troop J. "Curtis Banks was arrested around 3 a.m. at an apartment complex."

The AP quotes a Hattiesburg police spokesman as saying the officers killed were 34-year-old Benjamin Deen and 25-year-old Liquori Tate. Local reports identified Deen as a past department "Officer of the Year" and Tate as a newcomer to the force, AP says.