Mississippi
Patten won’t release the names of deputies in officer-involved shooting until MBI investigation into incident completed – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper
Patten won’t release the names of deputies in officer-involved shooting until MBI investigation into incident completed
Published 5:13 pm Monday, July 17, 2023
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Charoyd Henrence Bell, 43, fired on victim Gloria Chatman, hitting her in the stomach, and Adams County Sheriff’s deputies. A deputy returned fire and killed Bell Sunday morning. (File photo)
An Adams County Sheriff’s Office vehicle was struck by a bullet fired by suspect Charoyd Bell Sunday morning. Bell is now deceased. (Submitted)
NATCHEZ — Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said he does not plan to release the names of the two deputies involved in Sunday’s officer-involved shooting until the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation completes its investigation into the incident.
Patten said the scene was immediately preserved on Sunday for a third-party investigator, in this situation, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations.
MBI Crime Scene Investigators arrived from the Mississippi Gulf Coast area on Sunday afternoon to begin their work.
Charoyd Henrence Bell, 43, of 564 Old Highway 84, No. 3, was shot and killed by an Adams County Sheriff’s deputy on Sunday after Bell opened fire on a victim, Gloria Chatman, and the two ACSO deputies on the scene.
Chatman flagged down a deputy, who was out on patrol Sunday, telling him she had been kidnapped and assaulted. The deputy called for backup and began interviewing Chatman.
Shortly after the backup deputy arrived on the scene, Bell, who had been on the porch of his home, moved from the porch advancing toward the victim and the deputies, firing his weapon at the victim and the officers.
Chatman and the two deputies took cover behind sheriff’s vehicles, but Bell shot Chatman in the stomach. One deputy was able to return fire, killing Bell.
Both deputies have been put on administrative leave with pay until the MBI investigation is complete.
“MBI continues to investigate. Investigators were able to make contact with the victim,” Patten said. “She is up and walking around and is being housed in a trauma center in an undisclosed location.
“There was a witness to the entire incident as well, and that statement has been put on record,” he said.
Patten said he thinks the MBI investigation into the officer-involved shooting will be completed within two weeks.