In the spring of 2015, a tragic event unfolded in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, that cut short the life of a young police officer. On the evening of May 9th, 25-year-old Liquori Terja Tate, a male officer with the Hattiesburg Police Department, was on duty. He had been with the department for just under a year, having graduated from the police academy in 2014. It was a career he had reportedly dreamed of since childhood.
That night, what began as a routine traffic stop escalated into a fatal encounter.
Officer Benjamin Deen had initiated a traffic stop on a gold Cadillac Escalade. Officer Tate arrived shortly after as backup. During the stop, shots were fired, and both officers were struck by gunfire. The suspects then fled the scene, with one of them stealing a police cruiser to make their escape. The vehicle was abandoned a few blocks away. Both Officer Tate and Officer Deen were transported to a local hospital, but tragically, both men succumbed to their injuries, marking the first line-of-duty deaths for the Hattiesburg Police Department in over three decades.
An intense manhunt for the perpetrators was launched immediately following the shooting. Within a short period, authorities apprehended several individuals in connection with the crime. Two brothers, Marvin Banks and Curtis Banks, along with a woman named Joanie Calloway, were taken into custody. Marvin Banks and Joanie Calloway were subsequently charged with two counts of capital murder. Curtis Banks faced charges of accessory after the fact to capital murder. A fourth individual, Cornelius Clark, was also arrested and charged with obstruction of justice in the case.
The primary suspect, Marvin Banks, who was accused of firing the fatal shots, would never stand trial. In December 2015, he was found deceased in his jail cell. Other individuals connected to the case faced legal consequences for their involvement. The tragic and untimely death of Officer Liquori Terja Tate, a young man who was just beginning his career in law enforcement, left his family, colleagues, and the community of Hattiesburg in mourning.
