Community members, elected officials and law enforcement from numerous state and local agencies gathered at Meridian Police Department on Friday to remember Kennis Croom on the anniversary of his death.

Officer Croom was shot and killed responding to a domestic violence call on June 9, 2022. Brittany Jones, 31, was also killed in the incident.

The Meridian City Council in May ordered a section of E Street be overlayed with the name Kennis W Croom Street in honor of the officer, and the new signage was officially unveiled during Friday’s program.

Adrian Cross Phillips, interim resource development coordinator for United Way of East Mississippi and Mistress of Ceremony for Friday’s event, said the ceremony was not about mourning Croom but about celebrating his legacy and honoring his sacrifice to his community.

“The work he has done is speaking for him today and will continue to live on through the legacy of his children and his family,” she said.

The Rev. Chip Cowsert of First Presbyterian Church said it was fitting that a street be named after Croom. It is good, he said, for communities to honor their heroes, and Croom was a hero in Meridian.

“Every city needs heroes,” he said. “Every city needs people to look to and say, ‘that’s what it looks like to gladly accept sacrificial responsibility, to lay down my life day in and day out whether I’m living or even whether I’m dying for the good of the people around us.’”

Although Croom was not a native of Meridian, Cowsert said, the last year of his life was spent doing what he could to make Meridian a better place. Whether he was volunteering at LOVE’s kitchen, helping resolve a dispute at the homeless shelter or responding to a call as a police officer, Croom worked to improve the lives of those he encountered each and every day.

Even in responding to that call on June 9, Phillips said, Croom went to help.

“He put his life on the line to try to save a mother,” she said. “And that mother is Brittany Jones.”

While much of the focus may be on Croom, Phillips urged the community to remember Jones, as well, and the four young children she left behind. In brief remarks Friday, Jones’ mother said it has been a struggle, but the family was doing its best to move on.

Cowsert said he was grateful to the Croom family for allowing the community to know their son and grateful to God for sending Croom to Meridian. One day, he said, Kennis and the rest of the Croom family will be reunited, but until then the people of Meridian will remember the sacrifice Croom made for them and hold him up as one of their heroes.