Investigators: Miss. suspect used detective’s gun

JACKSON, Miss. — The police detective killed while interrogating a murder suspect at department headquarters in Mississippi’s capital city was shot four times before the suspect shot himself in the head, authorities said Friday

Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart told The Associated Press that Jackson Police Detective Eric Smith was shot twice in the chest and twice in the arm with a 9 mm pistol.

Jeremy Powell, 23, wrested Smith’s gun away while he was being questioned, shot the detective, then himself, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said Friday.

Jackson authorities said the shooting happened in a third-floor interrogation room while Smith was seeking information on a stabbing death earlier this week.

Powell had one gunshot to the head, the coroner said.

Smith, 40, had been with the police department nearly 20 years and was assigned to the Robbery-Homicide Division. The physically fit Smith was praised for his work leading numerous high-profile murder investigations, officials said.

Ken Winter, executive director of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police, said it’s not usual for an officer to be armed during an interview unless it’s being conducted in a secure area, like a jail. Jails typically require all visitors to check their weapons, including law enforcement officers.

Winter spent 36 years in law enforcement as a police chief, a detective and as director of the state crime lab.

“For him to be armed, I’d expect that,” Winter said. “I don’t think I did an interview when I wasn’t armed, unless I was doing it in the jail.”

But it is rare for an officer to be killed inside a police department, Winter said. He said he couldn’t recall such an instance in recent years in Mississippi.

Autopsies were being performed Friday at the state crime laboratory, but Strain said it could be several days before the findings are released. Some tests could take a few days, he said.

Jackson city spokesman Chris Mims said officials knew of no funeral arrangements as of Friday afternoon.

Smith is survived by his wife, Eneke, a sergeant with the Jackson Police Department, and two sons, Eric Smith Jr. and Quentin Smith. The family lives in a one-story red-brick home in a recently built subdivision in Clinton, a western suburb of Jackson.

A Jackson officer was posted in a police car Friday at the curb outside the house, where family members declined to speak to reporters.

Meanwhile, officials and friends remembered Smith as a talented officer.

Hinds County Supervisor Robert Graham, a former Jackson police officer who instructed Smith in a training class at the city’s police academy, remembers Smith for his “analytical intelligence.”

“He could develop his own leads and his own information. No one had to tell him what to do,” he said.

Captain Joseph Daughtry of the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office described Smith not only as an excellent detective but a close friend. They worked together for the city department for 11 years.

“He loved his kids, he loved his twin (brother) and he loved his job and he loved the Saints,” he said.

Daughtry, a New Orleans native, said he and Smith bonded over their mutual love of New Orleans’ pro football team. He said Smith had a room he called his “sanctuary” that’s stocked with Saints memorabilia.

Clay Norton, the athletic director and head basketball coach at Clinton High School, said Eric Smith Jr. played on the basketball team before graduating in 2012. The younger Smith now attends Copiah-Lincoln Community College, where he was a forward on the school’s basketball team. Quentin Smith is a high school senior this year participating in football, track and powerlifting, Norton said.

He said Smith was involved in his children’s lives and often pitched in to help, whether working concessions or selling programs at events. Smith also was close to other children in the community, Norton said.

“Eric was real close to a lot of the kids. Their home was always open,” Norton said. “Eric and Quentin know how to act. They are always respectful and polite, and that indicates good parenting.”

Powell’s mother, LaShon Vardaman Powell, told The Clarion-Ledger newspaper that her son had been in trouble with the law before, but she said he was turning his life around.

LaShon Powell said her son was good person who “would give somebody the shirt off his back” and she’s not sure what happened in the interrogation room.

“People hear things and they automatically assume he’s one type of person,” LaShon Powell said. “But he’s not.”

Speaking to reporters Friday, Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said counselors and clergy were meeting with police officers dealing with Smith’s killing. He declined to discuss the investigation or police department procedures, instead asking city residents to support police.

Said Johnson: “We have men and women out patrolling the streets of Jackson right now, fighting crime, even with this heavy burden upon them.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.