Starkville PD releases more details on death investigation
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The Starkville Police Department is investigating an alleged suicide incident that happened Monday night.
Because of officer involvement in the case, Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard held a press conference Tuesday morning to show transparency and lay out the information they have so far in the investigation.
According to the Starkville Police Department, officers were dispatched to Surhayver Avenue in reference to an individual banging on a door at a residence.
As officers were dispatched, the individual left the area.
Tuesday, Chief Mark Ballard showed a map of the area the suspect was presumably in after video surveillance identified the suspect’s vehicle
“Arctic Systems picked up the truck returning to the area. This was an area the individual had been advised not to return to
at 104 Surhayver. This was perceived as a stalking, domestic type of event,” said Chief Ballard.
Officers located the suspect again at the Chandler Park Apartments
When they tried to make contact with him, he ran.
The initial officer lost contact with the suspect, and backup units were given a description of the man.
In the press release, Chief Ballard showed body cam video footage from two individual officers.
This particular video used in this story is of the senior officer who made contact with the victim right before the apparent suicide.
From the body cam footage, you can see this particular officer heard a gunshot and ducked behind the car
The officer never fired his weapon.
You can see and hear in the video that the officer indicated this was a self-inflicted gunshot wound and radioed EMS.
Moments before the incident, the suspect was on Facebook Live saying how he was going to kill himself.
A pistol was located next to the suspect.
Chief Ballard says it’s important the department releases all this information due to the sensitivity of the case
“A tragic event, but one I want to be very clear – we recognize the sensitivity of our involvement and being
involved with this, but the evidence is very clear that our officers did not discharge a weapon and were not a part of this tragedy,” said Ballard.
Starkville police requested an official autopsy to be done.
