Deputy Shoots Self Transporting Highway Shooting Suspect

(Tunica County, MS) A deputy helping transport James Willie, the man arrested in connection with two North Mississippi highway murders, accidentally shot himself Wednesday.

Willie was due to appear before a Circuit Judge and face a return to prison stemming from his arrest on a rape charge ahead of this summer’s highway shootings in Panola and Tunica Counties.

Tunica deputies escorted Willie back to a secure van, when a crowd started gathering on the public square, attracted by the spectacle.

That’s when Tallahatchie Sheriff William Brewer Junior says, an accident caused a great commotion, A deputy grabbed an assault rifle out of his vehicle to further protect the public. When he went to get back in his vehicle, he lost his balance and accidentally shot himself in the leg.”

Brewer says the shot seriously injured the unidentified deputy who started bleeding profusely.

Paramedics and first responders arrived quickly to assist before having him airlifted to The MED in Memphis.

Brewer locked down the courtroom and the courthouse for extra security, and went outside to help.

He wants people to know that at no time was the public endangered by the incident, ”The prisoner was already shackled into the van, hooked inside the van, was secure in the van, when the accident happened.  He was never any danger to anyone in the public.”

Willie was taken back to Tunica County and is locked up.

The name of the injured deputy, who underwent surgery at The MED, has not been released.