Stone County deputy cleared in 2024 officer-involved shooting incident
Officers in four officer-involved shootings — including one in Perkinston — have been cleared of any wrongdoing, the Attorney General’s office announced Thursday.
The AG’s office said the use of force was justified in incidents that happened in three 2023 incidents and the March 10, 2024 incident in Perkinston involving the Stone County Sheriff’s Office.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation handled the investigations, per policy, of the officer-involved shootings.
In the Perkinston shooting, two people died and a deputy was injured in what was described as a domestic situation.
52-year-old Perry Stephens of Benndale died of a self-inflicted wound and 44-year-old Kimberly Kennedy of Pass Christian was found dead at the scene at the Dollar General on Highway 49 when deputies responded a domestic call.
Stephens fired at the deputy, hitting him in the face. The deputy returned fire, before Stephens apparently took his own life. The deputy suffered a cut to his cheek.
It was 10th officer-involved shooting of 2024.
The other cases cleared were:
- February 3, 2023 — An investigator and four deputies with Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Office in Okolona.
- August 30, 2023 — A deputy with DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office in Southaven.
- September 3, 2023 — a Master Sergeant with Mississippi Highway Patrol in Grenada.
