Osborne Bell was a pioneering lawman in Marshall County, Mississippi — the first Black coroner in the state and later the county’s first African American sheriff. His law enforcement career spanned about 20 years and ended on May 7, 1986, when he was shot during what began as an arrest of a parked vehicle off Highway 309.

A deputy investigating the vehicle found drug paraphernalia and called for backup. Sheriff Bell arrived and, as officers attempted to take the occupants into custody, 22-year-old Bart Helgrin Mease produced a hidden .22 caliber handgun and shot Sheriff Bell in the face. A deputy returned fire, wounding Mease. Sheriff Bell died while being transported to a Tennessee hospital.

Mease was charged with capital murder; his first conviction carried a death sentence that was later overturned on appeal. At retrial he was convicted and given life with the possibility of parole. His accomplice, 32-year-old Paula Lush, pleaded to become a witness and was released. A portion of Highway 309 and the Marshall County Justice Complex were later named in Osborne Bell’s honor.