Woman with child in car shoots, kills two Mississippi police officers in Motel 6 parking lot

Two police officers from a coastal Mississippi town were shot and killed early Wednesday by a woman who was sitting with a child in a vehicle in a motel parking lot, according to the Biloxi Sun Herald.

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The two officers, Sgt. Steven Robin, 34, and Officer Branden Estorffe, 23, had been sent to the parking lot of a Motel 6 in Bay St. Louis around 4:30 a.m. on a welfare check, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

Bay St. Louis is a town 25 miles from Biloxi, Mississippi.

When the officers arrived, they found the woman, Amy Anderson, 43, and a young girl in an SUV parked near the motel.

According to statement, the officers parked near Anderson’s SUV, walked up to the vehicle and talked with Anderson for about 30 minutes before she opened fire on them, killing them both.

Anderson, who was a veterinarian, died from a gunshot wound to the chest. According to The Associated Press, an earlier statement said the woman shot herself. It is unclear whether the officers returned fire.

Just prior to the shooting, the officers had called for help from child protective services, police said. The child who was in Anderson’s car with her was described only as being younger than 10 years old.

“This is a sad day for the city of Bay St. Louis and the state of Mississippi with the loss of two fine law enforcement officers getting shot in the line of duty,” Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told the Sun Herald.

A news conference concerning the shooting is set for Thursday.

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