Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell

Neshoba County law enforcement officials who were investigating a shooting Wednesday shot and killed the suspected shooter when he pointed two handguns at them, authorities said.    

Around 3:30 p.m. Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell and deputies responded to a report that a man was at Laird Hospital in Union for a gunshot wound to his upper body, said Waddell. He was later airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The victim, who was described by Waddell as a white man “about 30,” survived and is expected to recover. 

The shooting took place at the man’s home, which he shared with a girlfriend. Both the victim and the shooter had a relationship with the woman, Waddell said. 

Deputies spent more than an hour at the home, looking for evidence, told by the woman that no one was there. 

When they walked into a back bedroom to get footage from a security camera, they saw someone hiding between a wall and bed, concealed by pillows, Waddell said. 

Ordered to come out with his hands up, he rose and pointed two handguns at the officers, and was fatally shot, the sheriff said. 

He, too, was “about 30” and white, said Waddell. 

As is standard for shootings involving officers, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation into the second shooting. 

The bureau does not comment on ongoing investigations, said Capt. Johnny Poulos, the spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.  

Neither the sheriff’s department nor DPS shared the names of deputies on the scene, though Waddell said it was he and four deputies who investigated the initial shooting.

When MBI is finished with the investigation, it will go to the district attorney’s office, said Poulos. The sheriff’s department is also still conducting its investigation into the first shooting.

Waddell said cases like Wednesday’s are becoming increasingly common.

“This incident could have turned out a lot worse,” he said. “We could have lost officers in Neshoba County yesterday.”