VIDEO: A Memorial Dedication Honoring The Life Of Fallen Agent Lee Tartt

TISHOMINGO COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s been almost 18 months since Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Agent Lee Tartt lost his life during a standoff in Tishomingo County.

On Wednesday, the law enforcement community joined Tartt’s family for a special ceremony honoring the man and the agent.

To honor Agent Lee Tartt’s legacy, the Tishomingo County Sheriff’s Department dedicated a memorial plaque and a flag pole in his name.

It will serve as a daily reminder of the agent and his work.

“I think it’s important that never, that no day, no day ever erases the names of people like Lee Tartt out of our minds or off our lips,” says the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Marshall Fisher.

A fallen hero, a role model, and a special compassion for others is how fellow agents describe the 22-year law enforcement veteran.

“I read an article not long ago, where an individual who had been addicted to drugs had been arrested by Lee and Lee went to see him in the prison and ultimately, this young man turned his life around and cleaned up, so I think that’s a real tribute,” says Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director John Dowdy.

Tartt was part of a SWAT team sent to rescue a mother and child.

It was during the six hour hostage standoff that things went bad.

Three agents were seriously injured, but the gunfire ended Tartt’s life.

Tishomingo County Chief Investigator Greg Mitchell was there that night and remembers seeing a man on a hill. That image is now symbolic for him.

“At the time, I couldn’t see his face. There was no face there and just, I talked to him briefly and then he walked on to join his team before they made entry into the home, so he had probably been there a total of five minutes before he made entry and before his death.”

These agents will always remember his sacrifice.

“Lee was an agent’s agent. He was a Christian, so we know where he is. It’s a terrible loss and you see this little pin on my coat here, I wear it almost every day,” says Fisher.

Chief Investigator Mitchell says only one other law enforcement officer has died in the line of duty in Tishomingo County.

A Belmont Police Officer was killed in the 1970’s.