In the small town of Summit, Mississippi, a routine police checkpoint turned fatal on the evening of August 8, 2024, claiming the life of a veteran law enforcement officer. Troy Lamar Floyd, Sr., a 52-year-old male officer with the Summit Police Department, was shot and killed while on duty. With over two decades of service in law enforcement, Floyd was a respected figure who had worked as a jailer, patrol officer, and parole agent for various departments, including the Lincoln County Sheriff's
Office and the Mississippi Department of Corrections, before joining the Summit Police Department.
On that Thursday, Officer Floyd was conducting a checkpoint near West Railroad Avenue. As a vehicle approached the stop, a passenger, later identified as 25-year-old Usher Leonard, opened fire. Officer Floyd was struck by the gunfire and sustained a fatal wound. The sudden violence at the checkpoint initiated a swift response from neighboring law enforcement agencies.
Following the shooting of Officer Floyd, officers from the McComb Police Department arrived to assist. They located the suspect at a nearby grocery store, which led to another exchange of gunfire. In this subsequent confrontation, two McComb police officers, identified as Tyler Harvey and Joey Roberts, were wounded. The suspect, Usher Leonard, was shot and killed at the scene. It was later revealed that Leonard had an outstanding warrant for his arrest and had violated the terms of his post-release supervision stemming from a 2018 burglary conviction. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading the ongoing investigation into the incident.
