25-year-old dies after shooting involving Capitol Police officers
By Ross Adams
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JACKSON, Mississippi (WAPT) — Capitol Police officers involved in a shooting that killed a 25-year-old man are on administrative leave, according to officials with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
According to a spokesperson for the department, which oversees Capitol Police, Jaylen Lewis died after a Sunday night incident that began with a traffic stop. The shooting took place near East Mayes Street, near Fondren.
“An internal investigation into this incident is underway and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is conducting its own independent inquiry and will present its findings to the Attorney General’s Office,” Commissioner Sean Tindell said in a statement. “Such incidents require a thorough investigation, scrutiny and transparency. Therefore, any releasable information regarding this incident will be made public by the Department of Public Safety at the appropriate time.”
A representative for the family said Thursday that Lewis’ mother has not been contacted by Capitol Police.
“I just have a lot of questions. I just want to know what happened,” Lewis’ mother, Arkela Lewis, said. “Nobody has called me and said anything, yet. So, I need to know what’s going on here.”
Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes said he wants to ease what he called growing tension between the community and Capitol Police officers.
“What we don’t need is a war between the citizens of the city of Jackson and law enforcement,” Stokes said.
“If you have a lawless person, the rule of law is to arrest that person, not to take that person‘s life,” Stokes said.
The agency rejected Stokes’ and community leaders’ claims that Capitol Police officers have shot and killed three or four people in the past two months.
“You’re not going to build a relationship with these communities if they think that you’re here to kill them,” Stokes said.
At Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s Tuesday night community meeting at new Jerusalem Church South, host and pastor Dwayne Pickett described Capitol Police officers as cowboys and vigilantes who’ve declared open season on the people of Jackson. The meeting was to discuss the city’s water crisis.
The Capitol Police force recently expanded to patrol the Capitol Complex Improvement District to supplement the Jackson Police Department because of its shortage of officers.
“We need to make sure if this is going to work, that there’s trust. And right now, the avenues of trust are being eroded,” Stokes said.
“We’re trying to bring back a sense of law to the city of Jackson,” Tindell said earlier this week.
WAPT News asked Tindell on Monday about accusations that Capital Police are too aggressive.
“Some people might interpret basic law enforcement as being too aggressive in the city at this point,” Tindell said.
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