Two Wiggins PD Officers Killed In the Line Of Duty
By: Tommy Simpson, Director
Organizational Services, West Region
Southern States Police Benevolent Assoc.
On Sunday, November 28, 2003, Mississippi lost two more dedicated law enforcement officers in the line of duty. Odel Fite, 48, a 24 year veteran and Brandon Breland, 23, a five year veteran , both with the Wiggins Police Department were shot and killed in the line of duty. One of the officers killed, Officer Brandon Breland was a member of PBA, joining in December of 2003.
Each of these officers made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community. They knowingly placed themselves in harms way and ultimately lost their lives in an effort to protect another person and enforce the laws of our society Such sacrifice should not go unnoticed by anyone, even those not directly affected by their loss. I truly thank God, we still have men and women dedicated enough to accept the enormous responsibility and danger of this too often thankless profession. Can you imagine the world we would live in without them.
Articles concerning the incident appearing in the Sun Herald newspaper appear below.
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Posted on Mon, Nov. 28, 2005
TWO WIGGINS OFFICERS SLAIN
Maxie man taken into custody
mmnewsom@sunherald.com
WIGGINS -- Police were holding a suspect late Sunday night in the killing of two Wiggins police officers.
Families of the officers were at Stone County Hospital about 11:30 p.m., as were law enforcement officials, but the officers' names had not yet been officially released.
A press conference is scheduled for 8 a.m. today at the Wiggins police department.
Ronald Husband of Maxie, no age available, was caught about 10 p.m. He was reported armed with 40-caliber semi-automatic handguns he took from the slain officers when he fled.
He was described as 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing 325 pounds.
A criminal background check revealed several violent-crime allegations in Husband's file, including aggravated assault and sexual assault. He has served time in the state penitentiary, according to computer records.
Officers were advised to consider the fleeting Husband armed and dangerous.
Husband surrendered when law enforcement officers confronted him at his home in the Maxie community in Forrest County.
Officials were providing almost no details late Sunday night regarding circumstances of the tragedy.
The shootings occurred shortly after 8 p.m. on South First Street in a residential area east of U.S. 49. Initial communications about 8:30 p.m. indicated the officers were wounded but alive. A 9:02 p.m. bulletin to all police units advised they had died.
Units from a number of South Mississippi agencies responded to the chilling "officer down" alert.
The slain officers were responding to a domestic disturbance complaint, officials said.
Such calls are considered among the most potentially hazardous a police officer faces.
Stone County Sheriff Mike Farmer said, "This is devastating. My guys are in tears. And theirs (Wiggins police) are in tears."
The two departments work closely together, Farmer said.
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Posted on Mon, Nov. 28, 2005
SLAIN WIGGINS OFFICERS
IDENTIFIED
rfitzgerald@sunherald.com
WIGGINS -- Two Wiggins police officers who were killed Sunday night after answering a 911 call for a domestic disturbance were identified Monday morning at a press conference at the Wiggins Police Department.
Odel Fite, 48, a 24-year-veteran, and Brandon Breland, 23, a five-year veteran, answered the 911 call about 8 p.m. When dispatchers could not contact the officers after 4 minutes, they called on Stone County sheriff's deputies and the Mississippi Highway Patrol for backup. They found the officers down at the scene. They later died of their injuries.
Wiggins police chief Buddy Bell said a handgun was used in shooting of the officers, but offered few other details, referring those questions to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, which is handling the case.
Ronald Husband, 46, was charged with two counts of capital murder at 6 a.m. Monday morning. Mississippi Highway Patrol filed the charges through the District Attorney's office in Gulfport Husband will have an initial appearance sometime today.
Officers from other agencies in the area, including Gulfport, are sending officers to Wiggins to help the 15-man police department.
The Sun Herald will update this story through the day as details become available