Who is Martinus Mitchum? Louisiana police officer shot, killed, Biography, Wiki
A law enforcement officer Martinus Mitchum was shot and killed in New Orleans on Friday night, reportedly while trying to escort the suspect away from a high school basketball game.
The shooting at Carver High School in New Orleans tonight killed Martinus Mitchum, 38, a 2nd City Constable and Tulane University police officer, according to multiple sources.
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Martinus Mitchum Age
He was 38 yeras old.
Martinus Mitchum Suspect Arrested
The suspected gunman was reportedly in custody.
The slain officer was identified as Martinus Mitchum, 38, according to NOLA.com.
Teams from Carver and Warren Easton high schools were meeting in a playoff game at Carver High School when the suspect tried to enter, FOX 8 of New Orleans reported.
CHICAGO PROSECUTOR DROPS OPPOSITION TO PAROLE FOR CONVICTED COP KILLER
The game was halted following the shooting, NOLA.com reported.
The officer was working as a security officer for the game, WWL-TV reported.
The suspect had been arguing with a school employee and the law enforcement officer attempted to intervene and remove the suspect from the building, according to NOLA.com.
At some point, the suspect pulled out a gun and shot the officer in the chest, the report said.
Multiple shots were fired, according to a photographer from WWL who was at the scene.
Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputies arriving at the scene found the officer suffering from a gunshot wound and had him transported to University Medical Center, where he later died, FOX 8 reported.
The slain officer was a member of the force at Tulane University in the city and also served as a City Court constable, Shaun Ferguson, superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, told FOX 8.
The shooting remained under investigation, authorities said.
Investigators say Mitchum, a Tulane University police officer who was moonlighting at George Washington Carver High School, was killed after a school staff member got into an argument with a man trying to enter Carver’s game against Warren Easton High School. Mitchum overheard the dispute, intervened and tried to escort the man off campus.
The man pulled a gun and shot Mitchum in the chest, police said. Paramedics took Mitchum to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputies who also were at the school arrested a suspect in the shooting. The suspect wasn’t immediately identified.
The Carver-Easton game was called off.
Sources said Mitchum’s family was notified of his death later Friday.
Mitchum also was a reserve deputy constable at 2nd City Court. Tulane’s website said he began working for the university’s police force on July 26, 2019.
He also had worked at Landry-Walker High School in Algiers and John F. Kennedy High School when it was near City Park, according to newspaper records, and as an officer for the Loyola University Police Department. He graduated from the Slidell Police Department’s basic reserve police academy in 2014, said Sgt. Daniel Seuzeneau, an agency spokesperson.
Mitchum maintained an active presence on social media networks and often commented on law enforcement. Just two days before his death, he wrote he could support requirements that officers wear body cameras and favored officers being decertified if they performed their jobs poorly or were shown to be racist.
On Thursday, he retweeted a message from Vice President Kamala Harris supporting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which is named for the man killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 and aims to overhaul qualified immunity for law enforcement, among other things.
Mitchum also favored courts holding repeat offenders accountable rather than releasing them on no bail or low bail.
News of Mitchum’s killing caused an outpouring of condolences on the networks he frequented. One Twitter user recounted how Mitchum had just “checked on” him last week and wrote: “Get your rest
