MS Coast police officer among at 5 injured in shooting on last day of Black spring break
A Coast police officer and four other civilians were injured Sunday when shots rang out on U.S. 90 on the final day of Black spring break.
The shots could be heard in the 2400 block of the beachfront highway near Surf Style and elsewhere, authorities confirmed.
Biloxi police spokesperson Grandver Everett said authorities are still trying to piece together exactly what happened, where and how many were injured.
“We were all outside our vehicles working traffic and it started,” Everett said Sunday, noting that he could only speak for what he saw from his vantage point.
“It was all around us,” Everett said. “ We had officers responding to multiple locations.”
The Biloxi police officer who was shot and injured was among other officers from different agencies responding to the action that also prompted crowds in the area of gunfire to run for safety. A video shows members of law enforcement helping the injured officer get to an ambulance.
The officer sustained injuries to his arm and was treated at an area hospital, Biloxi Spokesperson Cecilia Dobbs Walton said Sunday night. The other victims also suffered injuries and were taken to an area hospital for treatment.
“At this point, we know everyone is stable,” Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said Sunday from the scene. “Some are in serious condition, but everyone is stable.”
Miller added that the officer shot is “doing pretty good” and that the public should pray for him and the other victims.
Everett said Monday morning that all five victims are either in stable condition or have been released from the hospital.
Biloxi police, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department, and officers from Gulfport, Ocean Springs, and surrounding agencies are also on scene to assist.
Highway 90/Beach Boulevard was closed for hours from Beauvoir Road to Edgewater Mall. Miller said police were “trying to collect every piece of evidence we can get” in the aftermath of the shooting.
No arrests have been made as of Monday.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, which investigates all police-related shootings statewide, has also been called to respond to investigate.
The Mississippi Department Of Public Safety commissioner Sean Tindell said the agency is still gathering information.
The incident Sunday comes a day after reports of gunfire at Edgewater Mall that resulted in its early closure, though police said they had not found any gun or evidence of a shooting there. There was also a fatal shooting Saturday night at a Biloxi apartment complex.
Miller said that the incidents police have dealt with this year are not usually an issue during spring break.
Sun Herald visual journalist Hannah Ruhoff contributed to this report.
