The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is investigating a weekend officer-involved shootout that resulted in the death of an unnamed suspect.

The suspect, who fired multiple rounds at a Meridian Police officer, was shot and killed during the exchange early Sunday morning, said Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler.

Cobler said the incident occurred about 1:45 a.m., in the 3600 block of Poplar Springs Drive.

Cobler described the suspect as a white male in his 30s, about five feet 10 inches tall, 185 pounds.

The officer, whose name has not been released, is on administrative leave while the MBI investigates the incident, said Meridian Police Chief Benny Dubose.

The officer’s injuries were not life-threatening, as he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Dubose said the officer took two rounds to the chest and sustained injuries to his leg and arm.

The officer was responding to a be-on-the-lookout report of an armed suspect driving with a female passenger, Dubose said. Initially, the woman and her boyfriend were riding with the suspect until an argument broke out between the two men. The suspect reportedly pulled a gun and told the male passenger to exit the vehicle. The male passenger then called the police.

When the officer spotted the vehicle identified in the BOLO, he  “tried to talk the gentleman out of the car” to no avail, Dubose said. 

The female was not injured in the incident.

The officer eventually went to the hospital and was subsequently released, Dubose said.

Dubose said the officer “is doing fine, physically,” as he is dealing with the psychological effects of fatally shooting the suspect.

In 2017, there have been at least two officer-involved shootings in the Lauderdale County area. The most recent occurred in August and involved a sheriff’s deputy at a home on Fred Haguewood Road in the county.

According to Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie, Maj. John Calhoun fatally shot Jeremy Douglas Gabrial, 31, during a disturbance on Aug. 4.

The day of the incident, Sollie said Gabrial was “raising the gun in a threatening manner,” which prompted Calhoun to fire his weapon “to protect himself.”

Cobler said Gabrial was taken to Anderson Regional Medical Center, where he later died from gunshot wounds to the neck and chest.

Sollie said a body cam and a dash cam were active when the incident occurred. Footage of the incident were given to the MBI, along with the E-911 call and a log of past incidents at the residence.

Calhoun was placed on administrative leave following the incident, but he has since been reinstated.