Brandon, Miss. (Clarion Ledger) – A Madison police officer is dead after a domestic dispute in the Crossgates neighborhood of Brandon led to a hostage standoff Thursday morning, officials said. The suspect was shot dead and a Brandon police officer also was shot and injured in the incident.
“We are devastated,” Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler said. “We are asking for prayers for the family and his fellow officers.”
The fallen Madison police officer was later identified as Horren Randy Tyler, a seven-year veteran of the Madison Police Department, according to a statement posted on the Madison Police Department website.
“In addition to being a valued member of the Department’s Special Response Team, Randy Tyler was the Department’s Field Training Coordinator, responsible for overseeing the training and career development of newly hired police officers,” the statement reads. “He was also a supervisor in the Department’s Narcotics Division. Prior to working at Madison, Randy Tyler retired as the Chief of Police for the Ridgeland Police Department. Chief Tyler was a graduate of the 228th Session o the F.B.I.”
The Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police asked for prayers for Tyler, his family and colleagues in a press statement.
“Please join us with your prayers for officers and family members of the Madison Ms Police Department and the Brandon MS Police Department,” the statement later retweeted by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann reads. The statement also states that Tyler was “employed part time with Madison after serving a full career with the Ridgeland Police Department from which he retired as the Chief of Police.”
Hosemann expressed his own condolences in the retweet.
“Devastated to learn of the death of Madison Police Officer Randy Tyler—killed in the line of duty today. Randy is the former Ridgeland Police Chief. We are in prayer for his loved ones. #ThinBlueLine,” Hosemann’s tweet states.