Mississippi police killing ruled justified

A grand jury has ruled three Mississippi police officers were justified in the fatal shooting of a 37- year- old man whose weapon turned out to be a BB gun.

Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said Wesley Sheppard shot out a window in a vehicle in which children sat and refused police orders to drop his weapon March 10. Police said Sheppard was standing on a bridge as he fired.

Miller said Thursday that Sheppard was hit by two bullets from about 50 yards as the three officers fired. He identified them as Sgt. Will Hipple and patrol officers Lance Miller and Matthew Boone. Lance Miller is not related to the police chief. The chief said Hipple and Boone are white, and Miller is black. The victim in the shooting was white.

Miller released details of the shooting after the Harrison County grand jury ruled Monday the officers’ actions were justified.

A three- paragraph document concluded: “After full and deliberate consideration of all the facts and circumstances leading up to the March 10, 2016, shooting of Wesley Alan Sheppard, and the circumstances as they existed at the time of the shooting, the Grand Jury finds no criminal conduct on behalf of the officers involved from the Biloxi Police Department and further finds their actions were appropriate.”

Miller said Sheppard’s weapon, a BB gun, looked like a long gun to police.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate the shooting and its reports were submitted to the grand jury.