Robert McKeithen, known as Mac, was a 58-year-old Biloxi Police Department sergeant and 24-year veteran when he was ambushed and fatally shot multiple times in the parking lot of the Lopez Quave Public Safety Center on the night of May 5, 2019. The attack occurred just outside the headquarters where he worked and provoked a large manhunt.

Investigators identified a suspect on surveillance and by public tips; 19-year-old Darian Tawan Atkinson was arrested the next day in Wiggins after being spotted by an off-duty Biloxi officer and was charged with capital murder. Authorities say Atkinson walked about eight miles from Gulfport to the Biloxi station and that the killing was planned, though motive remained unclear. Several others were later arrested and charged with assisting Atkinson after the shooting, including his brother Davian Atkinson and four additional accomplices who faced hindering prosecution or accessory charges.

Darian Atkinson was initially found competent in 2020 but underwent further psychiatric evaluations as his condition reportedly deteriorated. In March 2025 a judge ruled him not competent to stand trial and he was committed to the Mississippi State Mental Hospital; the capital murder charge remains pending. Does anyone have firsthand information about McKeithen’s last shift or the events that night?