CLOSE Brookhaven Mayor Joe Cox and Police Chief Kenneth Collins discuss the killing of police officers James White and Zach Moak on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018. Mississippi Clarion Ledger 
 
 Brookhaven Police officers Zack Moak, left, and James White were killed in the line of duty on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018. (Photo: Clarion Ledger via MS Dept. Public Safety) 
 
 BROOKHAVEN — Two Brookhaven, Mississippi police officers were killed in a shootout early Saturday morning, and the suspect, wounded and in custody, had a history of run-ins with law enforcement. 
 
 The officers, who were responding around 5 a.m. to a report of shots fired at a house, were identified as Patrolman James White, 35, and Cpl. Zach Moak, 31. 
 
 "Two heroes lost their lives today," Police Chief Kenneth Collins said at a news conference Saturday. 
 
 “They responded to the call and another was under fire, and that’s when the officer jumped in to help. They’re both heroes,” he said 
 
 Suspect Marquis Flowers, 25, wounded in the gunfire, was taken into custody and transported to a Jackson hospital. Flowers, a validated Gangster Disciple, is the only suspect involved, although others have been questioned about the shooting, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said at the news conference. 
 
 Brookhaven police received the call from a neighborhood about a mile north of the Brookhaven high school on the eastern side of town at about 4:47 a.m. White responded to the residence at 630 North Sixth St. first, with Moak quickly behind him. 
 
 The chief said both officers were wearing bulletproof vests and equipped with body and dashcam cameras. Strain said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, which is investigating the shooting, will review any recording for additional details on what happened. 
 
 Strain said his department could have an update on the case as soon as Monday. 
 
 Lincoln County Coroner Clay McMorris declined to give details on the shootings, such as where the two officers were shot, citing the MBI investigation. He said officials with King's Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven pronounced the two officers deceased at about 5:30 a.m. 
 
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 By mid-morning, MBI had sealed off the three roads leading to the residence as residents looked on from their porches. Witnesses had different recollections of what occurred Saturday morning. Some said they hadn't heard any gunshots in the densely packed neighborhood. Another resident, who asked not to be identified, said he did hear the shots and immediately jumped to the floor for safety. One resident said it wasn't unusual to hear gunshots in that part of town. 
 
 Collins described the events that unfolded as something that could happen to his officers anytime, anywhere. 
 
 "We answer those calls many times, and nothing ever happens. One hundred times — just that one time is all it takes," he said. 
 
 Moak graduated from Enterprise Attendance Center in Lincoln County and studied auto mechanics at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. He began his career with BPD in August 2015. 
 
 White had returned to work for the department in June 2015 after a stint with the Monticello Police Department, about 20 miles east of Brookhaven. 
 
 Marquis Flowers (Photo: MS Dept. of Public Safety) 
 
 Flowers, of Brookhaven, had several run-ins with area law enforcement, according to the Brookhaven Daily Leader. 
 
 In February 2017, he led law enforcement on a "high-speed chase" after failing to yield for a traffic stop. Flowers was wearing an electronic monitor at the time and was on probation for vehicle burglary in Lincoln County. 
 
 The shooting deaths come 16 months after former Brookhaven officer turned Lincoln County Deputy William Durr was killed in a shooting rampage that left seven others dead as well. Willie Cory Godbolt, who was arrested May 28, 2017, in that case, is awaiting trial. He faces the death penalty if convicted. 
 
 The flag outside the city's police department was lowered to half-mast shortly after the shooting. 
 
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 "This is devastating for our community, especially given what has already happened so recently," Brookhaven Mayor Joe Cox said. 
 
 "Our community is strong, and we'll pull together as a family. Our sympathies go out to the families and we want them to know we'll be with them to support them as they cope with this tragedy." 
 
 In a statement issued on Twitter, Gov. Phil Bryant asked for prayers "for the family and loved ones of these fallen heroes." 
 
 A candlelight/prayer vigil will be held Sunday night at 7 p.m. in front of Brookhaven Police Department. 
 
 Follow Justin Vicory and Therese Apel on Twitter: @justinvicory and @TRex21 
 
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 “As a councilman and graduate of Forest Hill High School, I deeply regret the performance of the Forest Hill High School Band this past Friday. It is very distasteful for us as a community of educators and leaders to not be aware, nor sensitive to the current negative portrayal and display of disrespect toward our Law Enforcement Community. We have to be very careful with what we allow, understanding that it was a presentation from the movie John Q, does not excuse the use of toy or play guns. Especially when so many students, teachers and first responders have lost their lives surrounding the same visual. It is my prayer, that we as a community we will continue to educate and foster an atmosphere conducive of a community who embraces and appreciates its law enforcement community and that we cast down anything that portrays the opposite. As leaders, we must evaluate the content of what we do, say and act out and what message it sends.” 

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 JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) - The Forest Hill High School band director from Jackson is suspended from his duties, the mayor says, after provoking public outrage at Friday night’s halftime show. 
 
 The Forest Hill High School Band is receiving national criticism for their performance at a game with Brookhaven High School, when they pointed guns at students laying on the ground, dressed as law enforcement, days after two Brookhaven Police officers were shot to death. 
 
 
 
 Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant responded Saturday, tweeting “This is unacceptable in a civilized society. Someone should be held accountable.” 
 
 
 

– A high school band's halftime performance showing police being held at gunpoint is fueling anger in a Mississippi city dealing with the recent killings of two officers, the AP reports. Pictures of the Forest Hill High School band's performance that circulated on social media (see a photo at WLBT). Saturday show students dressed as medical personnel holding SWAT team members at gunpoint as the band played. The performance took place Friday at a football game between Forest Hill and Brookhaven High School, just days after two Brookhaven police were killed by a suspect. The officers, James White, 35, and Zach Moak, 31, were responding to shots at a house when they were gunned down Sept. 29, per USA Today. Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Errick Greene apologized in a statement and said the skit was "loosely" based on a movie that had a hostage scene and was not intended to depict "people in our community." The school district "has a great deal of respect and appreciation for our law enforcement partners," Greene says, per WLBT. "The band's performance does not depict the values and people in our community, and was incredibly insensitive to the students, families, law enforcement officials and the entire Brookhaven community." Government officials, including Governor Phil Bryant, released statements condemning the performance. "This is unacceptable in a civilized society," Bryant tweeted. "Someone should be held accountable." The band director has been suspended, per WJTV.