A six-hour standoff at a rural Mississippi house ended early on Saturday when authorities stormed the house and the gunman inside opened fire, authorities said. One law enforcement officer was killed and three others were wounded and the man suspected of firing on officers was also killed.
The standoff started on Friday afternoon when authorities responded to a domestic dispute call at the home in rural northeastern Mississippi, authorities said.
However, the man, holed up in his home with his wife and 10-year-old daughter, refused to come out, sparking a six-hour standoff with officers outside, said US Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain.
Strain said the man was not shooting at officers before they entered the house, but they had tried to talk with him for six hours and had fundamentally exhausted negotiations.
The woman and child were rescued, Strain said, but the man was killed after he opened fire as tactical teams entered the home.
Multiple police agencies remained on the scene on Saturday afternoon at the one-story house in sparsely populated woods in Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
Killed were James Lee Tartt, 44, who was a Mississippi narcotics agent, and suspected gunman Charles Lee Lambert, who was 45.
The high-powered rifle Lambert used was also recovered from inside the house.
Tartt’s family described him as a dedicated officer who had spent most of his career battling drugs.
“He was just a really good guy, and he wanted to make the world a better place,” said Julia Criss Tartt, the aunt of the dead officer.
Her husband, Don Tartt, who is the slain officer’s uncle, said the officer was married and had two stepchildren.
In addition to his work as a narcotics agent, Lee Tartt was also part of an area SWAT team that would respond to situations like the Friday night standoff.
Three state troopers who entered the home were wounded. The most seriously wounded officer was out of surgery on Saturday and in critical but stable condition at a hospital in Corinth, Strain said.
The other two officers were in fair condition at hospitals in Memphis and Tupelo, Strain said.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant called on the state’s residents to pray for Tartt’s family.
“Our men and women in law enforcement put themselves in harm’s way every hour of every shift. This is a tragic reminder that their willingness to serve can exact the highest price,” Bryant said.
Tartt was a decorated officer who had been in law enforcement for 22 years.
Strain said Tartt is the fifth Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agent killed in agency’s 45-year history.
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