JACKSON, Miss.–Policemen and women are paid to protect you and sometimes they lose their lives performing that duty. For the past four years, the state has held an official memorial to honor those men, women and their families. This year the memorial will be Tuesday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m., near the Supreme Court building in Jackson.
The five officers who will be honored are John Thomas Collum, with the Miss. Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, killed May 9; John Robert Street, with the George County Sheriff’s Dept., who died Dec. 16; John Ballard Gorman, an investigator with the Miss. Gaming Commission, killed Jan. 21; Johnny Gatson, with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, who died March 10; and Josie Well, a federal marshal, who was shot and killed March 10.
“We began this ceremony five years ago following the creation of the memorial wall,” said Attorney General Hood. “If you haven’t had a chance to visit the memorial, this is a great opportunity to do so and to honor our state’s fallen officers. Since we last held this ceremony, Mississippi has lost five heroes in the line of duty, two in 2014 and three in 2015. There are another 227 names on the memorial.”
“This vigil is a chance to come together and remember our fallen comrades and to pray for the safety of all our state’s law enforcement officers as they serve and protect,” said Ken Winter, Executive Director of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police.
Members of the public, along with family and friends of any Mississippi law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, are invited to join officers from the Mississippi Chiefs of Police Association, the Mississippi Sheriffs Association, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries Department, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office at the event, said a news release from Hood’s office.
The attorney general and the Miss. Assoc. of Police Chiefs put the event together each year.
