Tishomingo County Mississippi Silicon investor dies while on business trip.
McNairy County High school officials address Pledge of Allegiance rumors.
Prentiss County Booneville residents to receive new garbage cans.
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Thursday Aug. 20,
2015
75 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 119, No. 199
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 18 pages • One section
Corinth police officer shot Hunt continues for suspect while officer recovers
Public expresses shock, support after shooting
BY STEVE BEAVERS BY ZACK STEEN
sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
A Corinth police officer is in good condition after being shot twice early Wednesday. Numerous law enforcement agencies spent the day searching for the person who shot officer Kevin Parker Jr. on Bell School Road at 4:40 a.m. Parker, a member of the department for around seven months, was struck once in the chest and another time in the left shoulder after a strug- Parker gle with the subject about 50 yards south of where Bell School Road meets McKewen Road. Parker, who lives in Tupelo, was airlifted to North Mississippi Medical Center following the shooting. Parker would have likely died at the scene from a gunshot to the heart without his bulletproof vest, according to Corinth Police Chief Ralph Dance. “The vest saved his life,” said the police chief. The bullet from the shot to the arm exited the shoulder, leaving a pair of bloodstains pinpointing where the struggle took place. “I commend Kevin, he is a heck of an officer,” said Dance. “Things could have been catastrophic.” The Corinth Police Department responded to a prowler complaint on Bell School Road at 2:30 a.m. prior to the shooting.
zsteen@dailycorinthian.com
police chief. “The subject then charged and attacked him, and somehow turned Kevin’s service weapon toward him.”
The Crossroads shed a tear Wednesday morning as news spread that a local police officer had been shot. Kevin Parker Jr., who has only been on the Corinth police force for about seven months, was shot twice during a confrontation with a prowler during the early morning hours. “My heart fell to my toes when I heard the news,” said fellow officer Chad Harville. “He is my brother in blue and it’s awful he was attacked, shot and left for dead.” Parker survived the gunshots thanks to a bulletproof vest, but remains in a Tupelo hospital. As area residents prayed for their fallen officer, many reflected on the violence. “The events that have occurred in the past few months involving the gang-related shooting and now the shooting of an officer honestly could have happened anywhere,” said Corinth Police Department clerk/dispatcher Megan Burns. “But with it being so close to home, it really hurts.” Burns said it was a call no one at the police department ever wanted to receive. “It was very alarming to all of us. We are all like a family at PD and when something like this happens, we pull together even stronger,” she added. “I am very thankful that Officer Parker is going to be OK and I am so grateful that his vest served its purpose and saved his life.” Farmington Baptist Church Paster Jarrod Cox said he was shocked when he first heard the news.
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Staff photos by Steve Beavers
Corinth police officer Kevin Parker Jr. was shot twice by a male early Wednesday. Blood from a shoulder wound was still visible as of Wednesday afternoon on Bell School Road.
Officers with numerous law enforcement agencies were looking for a male who shot a Corinth police officer on Wednesday. “Officers responded and didn’t find anything,” added Dance. Parker returned to the area on patrol about two hours later when a black male, dressed in
all black and carrying a backpack, ran in front of his patrol car, according to Dance. “The officer blue lighted him and the guy turned around and walked toward him,” said the
Bulletproof vest saves officer’s life BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
It didn’t take long for Corinth’s new bulletproof vests to prove their worth. The city purchased new vests earlier this year, and they hit the streets in June. The vest worn by officer Kevin Parker Jr. while responding to a call early Wednesday now has a hole in the heart area. Mayor Tommy Irwin visited the injured officer Wednesday morning. Without the vest, Irwin said, he “would have been going to a funeral instead of a hospital room.” The Corinth Police Department has a “mandatory wear” policy regarding body armor.
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In March, Chief Ralph Dance asked the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to consider the purchase of more than 30 vests — enough to cover the entire force — at a cost of a little more than $20,000. The board approved the purchase of the Xtreme Body Armor vests, although it hadn’t been budgeted. It’s not that officers did not have vests, but those in use were getting old in terms of the manufacturer’s specifications — some had been on the street for eight to 10 years. Those might still work just fine at stopping a bullet, but the manufacturer only backs them for five years of use. “In not only the police department but also the fire department, you’ve
got to give the men and women the equipment they need to perform their job and especially to protect them,” said Irwin. The department also recently distributed expandable batons to officers. The impact weapon was needed to ensure all officers have a secondary weapon available alongside their firearm during times when extra staff is called into the line of duty and there aren’t enough Tasers to go around. The body armor worn by Corinth police officer Kevin Parker Jr. has a hole where an assailant shot him Wednesday morning.
25 years ago
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Corinth’s Mickey Suggs gets his first hole-in-one on the par 3 fifth hole at Shiloh Ridge golf course. The feat is witnessed by playing companions Mike Crumby, Rick Johnston and Ronnie South Jr.
Nick Bain of Corinth is honored for academic success with a scholarship at the Mississippi College School of Law. Bain is in his third-year of law school at the college in Clinton.
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