UPDATE, May 4: Suspect Stanley Self Jr. has been arrested by the US Marshals at an apartment complex in Brandon, Mississippi. Self has been charged with attempted murder and felon in possession of a firearm. More charges are anticipated.
UPDATE: Trooper Ryan Watson received non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to make a full recovery, Mississippi Highway Patrol said.
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BOLIVAR COUNTY, Miss. — A search is underway in the Mississippi Delta for a suspect who shot a Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper in Bolivar County Tuesday morning.
Jimmy Al works at the 76 Truck Stop on Highway 61 in Bolivar County. He knows the Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper that was shot just a couple of miles down the highway near Mound Bayou.
“He just came and got a fuel receipt, and gone on about his day. That was pretty much it,” Al said. “He got gas. About five minutes later, you see State Trooper cars flying past the highway, going after the call.”
The MHP isn’t saying much more than a trooper was wounded along Highway 61 when the trooper was attempting to conduct a traffic stop around 7 a.m.
The trooper has not been identified, but we’re told his injuries are not life-threatening, and he’s expected to make a full recovery.
The area was saturated with State and Bolivar County law enforcement agencies including the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Within a short time, the MBI issued a be on the lookout alert for 24-year-old Stanley Self, Jr. who reportedly had made his way to Mound Bayou, two miles from the shooting scene.
Mavis Honorable is with St. Gabriel Mercy Center, a social service agency in Mound Bayou. She was told the suspect was seen around Isaac Avenue and South Street just a few blocks from her center.
“There were police cars all around that area and that way. We could see it from the window in our office. They had that blocked off,” Honorable said.
Word the suspect was in Mound Bayou forced a precautionary lockdown in the Delta town.
“We locked our facility. The Health Center was locked. The schools were locked. The Head Start Center children were sent home for the day,” Honorable said.
It’s believed Stanley Self has left the Mound Bayou area. Honorable hopes he is caught soon.
“It’s a small community so we’re hoping we can go back to normal starting tomorrow,” she said.