A gunman shot and killed two police officers early Wednesday morning in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
According to a tweet from his verified account, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves identified the slain officers as Officer Branden Estorffe and Sgt. Steven Robin.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation officials received a call for service at a Motel 6 on Highway 90. During the encounter, both officers were shot by a woman before she turned the gun on herself.
In a statement on Friday, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety identified the shooter as 43-year-old Amy Anderson.
Officers responded to a welfare check call at a motel in Bay St. Louis, according to the agency. The officers found Anderson and a minor female sitting in a parked vehicle when they arrived. They were engaged in conversation with her for about 30 minutes before she discharged her weapon.
The officer who died at the scene was officer Robin, and the officer who died shortly after was officer Estorffe. A self-inflicted gunshot wound caused Anderson’s death.
The investigation remains open and ongoing.
At a news conference on Thursday, Bay St. Louis Police Chief Toby Schwartz said Robin and Estorffe were “trusted colleagues and outstanding officers.”
Schwartz said Robin, a 12-year law enforcement veteran, rose through the ranks to become a supervisor. He had been with the Bay St. Louis Police Department since 2019. Schwartz remembers Estorffe’s quick wit and charm as a boy growing up in a law enforcement family.
During the department’s investigation of the loss, Schwartz said that neighboring law enforcement agencies are providing resources and responding to calls. A funeral announcement will be made in the days to come.
According to a post on the department’s Facebook page, services for the officers will take place at the Bay St. Louis Community Center on Wednesday, December 21.