Dec. 14 (UPI) — Two police officers were killed in the parking lot of a Mississippi Motel 6 early Wednesday morning when a woman opened fire on them before killing herself.
Bay St. Louis Police Department officers Branden Estorffe, 23, and Steven Robin, 34, were responding to a welfare check at the hotel located on U.S. Highway 90. At about 4:30 a.m. they found 43-year-old Amy Brogdon Anderson sitting in a car with a female minor. The officers spoke with Anderson for about 30 minutes before she opened fire, Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told the Biloxi Sun Herald.
The officers called Child Protective Services before Anderson opened fire.
The Vicksburg Post reports that Anderson fatally shot Robin and wounded Estorffe before turning the gun on herself. The second officer later died from their injuries. The child in the vehicle was under the age of 10.
“This is a sad day for the city of Bay St. Louis and the state of Mississippi with the loss of two fine law enforcement officers getting shot in the line of duty,” said Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, in an interview with the Sun Herald.
Anderson was a veterinarian who used to work in Vicksburg, Miss. The Vicksburg Post did a profile on her in 2005 in which she discussed pursuing her career.
A press conference is scheduled for Thursday to discuss the shooting. The incident is still under investigation.
“I am heartbroken by this terrible loss of two brave law enforcement officers,” said Gov. Tate Reeves. “I am praying for their family, friends, fellow officers, and the entire Bay St. Louis community.”
