Investigators with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation inspect a police vehicle at the scene of the murder of two police officers outside a Motel 6 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Police say a woman shot and killed two officers. before committing suicide. (Hannah Ruhoff/The Sun Herald via AP)
BAY ST. LOUIS, Mississippi (AP) — Two police officers on the Mississippi coast were shot and killed by a woman early Wednesday morning while checking a call at a motel, authorities said.
The woman killed herself after shooting at Bay St. Louis police officers at a Motel 6 in the city around 4:30 a.m., the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said in a statement. It was not clear why the officers were sent to the motel. The statement described it as a “service call.”
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agents investigating the shooting did not release any additional details.
On Wednesday, investigators blocked off a large portion of the motel parking lot with crime scene tape. An officer was seen taking photos of the driver’s seat of an SUV just a step away from bloodstains on the pavement and discarded emergency medical equipment. Other officers were looking inside a nearby police car.
The officers killed were Sgt. Steven Robin and Officer Branden Estorffe, said Bay St. Louis Police Chief Toby Schwartz, who planned a news conference to release more information later Wednesday.
Bay St. Louis is a city of 10,000 about 25 miles west of Biloxi.
The Mississippi governor offered his condolences in a message on social media.
“I am heartbroken by this terrible loss of two brave law enforcement officers,” Governor Tate Reeves posted on Twitter. “I am praying for his family, friends, his fellow officers and the entire Bay St. Louis community.”