TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — Authorities say a Tupelo, Miss., police officer has been killed and a second is in critical condition in a shootout with suspected bank robbers.
The officers arrived in separate cars to the robbery call from BancorpSouth around 3:15 p.m. Monday. Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre says they pursued the suspects' car and those in the vehicle jumped out and began firing at the officers.
Thirty-eight-year-old Kevin "Gale" Stauffer was killed, and a 26-year-old officer, whose name was not released, was hurt.
FBI agents are looking for at least one suspect who they say might be heavily armed.
The FBI has offered a reward of $50,000, which has been matched by BancorpSouth.
Mayor Jason Shelton says a bystander used a fallen officer's radio to report the shooting. He says that may have saved the second officer's life.
More from Officer Down Memorial Page:
Corporal Gale Stauffer was shot and killed as he and two other officers responded to a bank robbery on South Gloster Street, near the intersection with Main Street, at approximately 3:00 pm.
As the officers approached the suspect(s), who were stopped in traffic at a railroad crossing, at least one subject opened fire on them at close range. Corporal Stauffer was shot and killed and a second officer was critically wounded before the subject(s) fled in a vehicle.
A citizen used one of the officers' radios to alert dispatchers that the officers had been shot. The wounded officer was transported to a local hospital in guarded condition.
The suspects(s) remain at large.
Corporal Stauffer was a combat veteran of the Louisiana Army National Guard. He had served with the Tupelo Police Department for eight years and had previously served with the Lee County Sheriff's Office for one year. He is survived by his wife and two young children.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Chief Bart Aguirre
Tupelo Police Department
220 N Front Street
Tupelo, MS 38804
Phone: (662) 841-6491
Read more: http://www.odmp.org/officer/21898-corporal-kevin-gale-stauffer#ixzz2oQjxtllG