Mississippi officers cleared in shooting death of wanted suspect

Published 6:32 am Wednesday, February 12, 2020

A grand jury has ruled that deputies acted appropriately when they shot and killed a wanted man during an attempted arrest in Mississippi last year.

Lawrence Bottoms, 29, jumped from a second-story window after authorities used tear gas to draw him out of a Bay St. Louis home in April 2019.

He then ran into a nearby wooded area where officers said they opened fire after Bottoms pulled out a handgun.

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The grand jury cleared the Hancock County deputies of any criminal conduct, news outlets reported Tuesday.

Bottoms was wanted on a charge of being a felon in possession of gun out of East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana.

He had pleaded guilty in 2017 to aggravated battery in the April 2015 stabbing of a teenager in the face with a screwdriver in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, court officials have said.

The teenager died months later.

Bottoms had several facial tattoos that include horns on his forehead and the word “cutthroat” across his neck.