Dec. 30, 1875

Mississippi state senator Charles Caldwell was assassinated by a mob of white men in Clinton, just west of the state’s capital in Jackson.

The blacksmith had been one of the 16 black Republican delegates who participated in the 1868 Constitutional Convention, which wrote a constitution to integrate public schools, legalize interracial marriages, give the vote to all adult men and ensure property rights, regardless of race or gender.

Mississippi voters, however, rejected the constitution. An editorial in the Aug. 4, 1875, issue of the Hinds County Gazette called for the end of Republican rule, saying “the time has come when it should be stopped—peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary.”

A month later, 2,000 Black Mississippians, along with 75 or so white allies, attended a Republican political rally and barbecue at an abandoned plantation outside Clinton, and when a former Union Army officer representing the governor began to speak, a group of 18 white men disrupted the rally. When Caldwell tried to intervene to keep the peace, gunfire erupted.

“The thing opened just like lightning, and the shot rained in there, just like rain from heaven,” one witness said.

Five Black Mississippians, including two children, were killed. So were three white Mississippians. Dozens were wounded. More than 500 Black men fled to Jackson for the protection of the U.S. Army, but the KKK-like “Modocs” killed up to 50 Black Americans, vandalized Caldwell’s home and killed several of his neighbors.

A man he thought was his friend lured him out for a Christmas week drink — only for him to be shot in the back. Caldwell told the mob, “Remember when you kill me, you kill a gentleman and a brave man. Never say you killed a coward.” Then the mob riddled him with bullets.

A historical sign now recognizes Caldwell.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Former Auditor Steve Patterson joins Mississippi Today’s Adam Ganucheau, Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender to discuss a government waste study he conducted in the 1990s. Patterson draws contrasts between his 1990s study, which was legally authorized by the Legislature, and a highly scrutinized 2024 study from current Auditor Shad White, who did not get legislative authorization before spending $2 million.

READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The Mississippi Attorney General’s office declined to prosecute and cleared law enforcement officers for their use of force in a third of all the officer shooting cases it resolved between 2023 and 2024.

There have been 65 officer shootings statewide since 2023, according to records maintained by the Department of Public Safety. That number can change through the end of the year if there are additional shootings or earlier ones are found not to be officer-involved. 

The attorney general’s office resolved about 40% of those cases, most of which have been declined prosecution. 

A spokesperson said the remaining cases are in various stages of review or the office hasn’t received the case file from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is responsible for looking into the cases.  

“Each case is different, including the complexity of the fact pattern, number of parties involved, and available evidence, and each case is reviewed thoroughly and independently,” spokesperson MaryAsa Lee said in a statement. “We seek to have a complete picture of the incident, considering all relevant facts and evidence.”

At least 30 people have died and at least 30 were injured, according to the DPS data, press releases by the agency and local news reporting. 

Most of the deaths and injuries since 2023 were of people who were the subject of a police call, but three law enforcement officers also died as well as two other victims. 

In nearly two years, 68 law enforcement agencies were involved in shootings, including police departments, sheriff’s offices, state agencies and federal agencies. 

The Jackson and Biloxi police departments each had four officer-involved shootings in 2023 and 2024, according to the data. Other departments and agencies across the state had two or one officer shooting. 

Details shared from press releases and local news reporting show several common themes in the shootings, including while officers respond to calls for help, during crimes in progress, while serving warrants and when a person shows a weapon. 

MBI has closed 40 of the cases between 2023 and 2024, according to the records by the DPS, the agency that oversees the bureau. 

For cases MBI closed, the average time between the shooting and submission of the case to the attorney general’s office is about 181 days, or nearly 5 ½ months. 

Twenty-four cases remain open by MBI, most of which are from shootings that happened in late 2023 or this year. 

Once cases are closed, they are submitted to the attorney general’s office, which handles prosecution and reviews use of force by officers who were involved in the shooting.

From there, it can take additional time for Fitch’s office to review the incident and determine whether the law enforcement officer’s use of force was justified. The office was given exclusive responsibility to prosecute law enforcement shootings starting in July 2022. 

“All of these cases are incredibly important, not only for the parties involved but also for the confidence of the public,” Lee, of the attorney general’s office, said. “Ultimately, by seeking truth and justice, we hope to bolster the credibility of our legal system and trust between the men and women of law enforcement and the communities in which they serve.”

The attorney general’s office declined to prosecute for 20 cases, meaning that the officers were justified in their use of force. 

Between 2023 and 2024, Fitch’s office brought one case to a grand jury: the case of an Indianola police officer accused of shooting an 11-year-old boy during a domestic incident in May 2023. Officers came to the boy’s home to help his mother with a former partner who became irate. 

In December 2023, a Sunflower County grand jury decided not to indict the officer, Sgt. Greg Capers. 

The attorney general’s office also presented another case to a grand jury in 2022, and that jury 

declined to indict. In that case, a Gulfport officer shot a 15-year-old outside a Family Dollar Store. Police and the family have offered varying accounts of events, and DPS released dashboard and body camera footage from the shooting from multiple points of view. 

Since 2023, Fitch’s office was able to secure one conviction: sentences for five former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies and a former Richland Police Department officer who called themselves the Goon Squad and tortured two Black men in January 2023. The officers pleaded guilty to state and federal charges and are incarcerated in federal prisons around the country. 

Indictments and convictions of law enforcement officers whose use of force results in death or injury are not common in Mississippi or around the country. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.