New details emerge in fatal shooting involving Harrison County supervisor’s patrol officer
The mother of a man shot and killed by a Harrison County supervisor’s patrol officer said her son was not involved in a hit-and-run crash prior to his killing.
Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson confirmed the information, saying what was initially reported by a driver as a hit-and-run before the fatal shooting was unfounded.
“It was called in as a flagged down hit-and-run with a vehicle in the woods,” Peterson said, “but something on the side of the road hit it. There was no two-vehicle accident.”
A Harrison County patrol safety officer in District 1 Supervisor Beverly Martin’s district shot and killed 30-year-old Cody Mercer on May 18 during an encounter on Mississippi 67 near Shriner’s Boulevard.
Supervisors initially said that the shooting happened after the safety officer, Rena Wiggins, “observed a hit and run accident.”
“Initially, it was reported as a two-vehicle accident by somebody at the scene,” Tim Holleman, the attorney for Harrison County supervisors, said Thursday, correcting an earlier statement saying otherwise.
“There was still an accident,” Holleman said. “He (Mercer) ran off the road into the woods. The accident is not the issue. It’s what he did after the accident, from my understanding.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation handles the independent investigation into the fatal shooting. MBI investigates all police shootings in the state. Once the investigation is completed, the findings are turned over to the Attorneys General’s office to determine if any criminal wrongdoing occurred.
According to MBI, the shooting happened after Wiggins stopped at the scene to aid those involved, and Mercer allegedly attacked the officer multiple times.
The officer fired at least seven rounds, four of which hit Mercer, according to the Harrison County coroner’s officer. Mercer died the same day.
Mercer’s mom, Lori Beauchamp, wants people to know her only child was a good man.
“He was very polite,’ Beauchamp said. “He was raised right and was respectful. He would hang out with my Mom watching LSU or Saints games. I never once heard him be disrespectful to an adult. The way he was depicted on May 18 was nowhere near the man he was. He always searched for good in someone.”
The Sun Herald reached out to Wiggins for comment, but she declined on the advice of her attorney, Joe Sam Owen.
The MBI investigation is continuing, according to Sean Tindell, the commissioner for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
