DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. — WREG has new information about what led to a deadly deputy-involved shooting in Southaven.
Investigators said Kevin Washington robbed and threatened to shoot several people in Horn Lake less than an hour before the shootout.
Police said one of the robberies happened just after 8 p.m. Wednesday night.
A delivery truck driver was unloading at a McDonald’s on Goodman Road in Horn Lake.
Police said Washington took a phone out of the semi-truck, and when the driver confronted him, Washington racked the slide on his pistol.
The driver dove to the ground then ran into the store to call 911.
Minutes later, a Home Depot customer was in the parking lot of the store on Interstate Blvd. getting a debit card left in a car.
According to the police report, Washington walked up behind, aimed his gun and robbed the customer.
A woman then walked up to the pair. Washington reportedly held her at gunpoint too.
The pair told police Washington tried to get them into the car to go to the bank.
When they refused, he reportedly pulled the trigger. The gun jammed though causing Washington to run of.
“That’s an indication I’m about to shoot you,” said District Attorney John Champion.
Within the next hour, deputies found Washington at a Kroger on Stateline Road in Southaven.
A shootout followed leaving Washington dead and two deputies shot.
Washington’s record dates back to the 80s with crimes committed in Florida and Tennessee.
Champion said he used nine different aliases.
WREG found 13 cases linked to Washington in Shelby County.
In 1982, while serving time for petit larceny, court documents show he escaped while on work released at the Memphis Community Service Center.
In 1985, documents state he held four employees at gunpoint at a Pizza Hut in Bartlett and then kidnapped a woman.
“This was a very, very violent felon,” said Champion.
The deputies are expected to make a full recovery.
WREG requested Washington’s files from the court clerk in Hillsborough, Florida.
We will let you know when we get them.
