DPS: Gangster Disciples have called for deaths of police officers

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Mississippi Department of Public Safety released a bulletin to law enforcement on Thursday evening warning of a threat against all law enforcement by the Gangster Disciples street gang.

Twenty-year-old Brandon Webber was shot by U.S. Marshals in Memphis after ramming their vehicles with his several times and then stepping out of his car with a weapon, officials said Thursday morning. This kicked off violent protests in which the crowd threw rocks, bottles, and chunks of cement at police on the scene, injuring dozens of officers and two journalists.

According to DPS, Webber’s father made the threat against law enforcement Wednesday night, calling for retaliation for the death of his son. The threats are considered to be against all law enforcement, but especially the Marshals. Information from informants to DPS and to the Mississippi Association of Gang Investigators indicate that the gang has threatened to kill a Marshal to even the score.

“We received credible intelligence that a threat had been issued on law enforcement pursuant to the events that occurred in the city of Memphis last evening,” said DPS Commissioner Marshall Fisher. “I felt it was necessary to get that information out to law enforcement.”

Authorities say law enforcement officers need to be on high alert when they are in public, and all Marshals are told to cover their agency apparel when they are out.

“We currently have an environment nationwide where it seems that law enforcement officers are increasingly under threats of violence,” Fisher said. “It’s incumbent upon us to get information out as soon as possible.”

Webber posted a Facebook Live video in the hours before his death.

The now-deleted video was about eight minutes long and showed the 20-year-old singing in his car, smoking and driving. At one point, Webber sees a Memphis police cruiser, says they’d have to catch him and then says he’d “do” them.

“I ain’t lying, I’m gonna do they a** so bad,” Webber said in the video.

The Gangster Disciples, one of the three largest street gangs in Mississippi according to the latest gang study by the Fusion Center, were also involved with a threat on law enforcement in 2015 along with the 74 Hoover Crips. This happened just after Hattiesburg police officers Liquori Tate and Benjamin Deen were killed and Marvin Banks was captured and charged with two counts of capital murder in their deaths.