This is Police Memorial Week. Here’s a list of the 11 law enforcement officers from Attala, Leake, Neshoba and Holmes counties who’ve died in the line of duty over the years, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page:
The Goodman Police Department has lost two officers– Assistant Chief Emma Mae Horton who was shot to death by a fellow officer in 2000 and Acting Marshal James Robert Moody Sr. who was killed by gunfire almost 100 years ago, back in 1925, while attempting to arrest a drunk driver.
The other fallen officers were from nine different departments, including two members of the same family: Carthage Police Corporal Van Perry, who died of a heart attack after arresting a shoplifting suspect in 2013 and his father, Leake County Chief Deputy Willie Perry, who was struck by a vehicle while conducting a roadside checkpoint in 2001.
Our local fallen officers also include Attala County Sheriff’s Deputy James Thomas O’Bryant who was shot to death while answering a domestic disturbance call in 1970.
— Holmes County Sheriff’s Deputy John Pat Malone Sr., who was killed by gunfire while trying to question a murder suspect in 1954.
— Kosciusko Police Officer Joseph Anthony Fulton, who suffered a heart attack in 2009 while chasing a driver who had refused to pull over.
–Lexington Patrolman Amos Hampton, who was shot to death with his own gun by his teenage brother-in-law in 1973.
— Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff John Adam Myers who was killed in a highway ambush in 1927.
–Philadelphia Patrolman LeAnn Simpson, who died in a car crash in 2018 while responding to assist other law enforcement officers.
–Walnut Grove Town Marshal Jake Trest, who was shot to death in 1979 while investigating the rape of an elderly woman.
11 Fallen Officers. 11 Fallen Heroes.
