On the evening of Tuesday, June 26, 1990, 35-year-old Deputy Sheriff James Boyakin Barnett of the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office was killed in the line of duty in Mendenhall, Mississippi. Barnett had been rerouted from a traffic accident to a domestic disturbance in which a man had set his own house on fire. When Barnett arrived he joined the sheriff and a Mt. Olive police officer who were already at the scene.

The three officers moved to arrest the suspect. A struggle followed, the suspect took the Mt. Olive officer’s service weapon and opened fire. The sheriff and the Mt. Olive officer were wounded; Deputy Barnett received a fatal gunshot wound. The suspect fled but was captured a short time later in neighboring Jeff Davis County.

Did anyone in the area at the time have additional details about the response that night or contact with the officers involved?