Grand jury indicts teen in ambush killing of Biloxi police officer Robert McKeithen
A Harrison County grand jury has indicted a Biloxi teen on a capital murder charge in the ambush-style killing of Biloxi police officer Robert “Mack” McKeithen.
Authorities served the indictment to Darian Tawan Atkinson, 19, at the Harrison County jail on Wednesday following his indictment. Atkinson has been jailed without bond since his his May 6 arrest for shooting McKeithen in the parking lot of the Lopez Quave Public Safety Center on Porter Avenue.
A date has not yet been set for Atkinson’s arraignment. If convicted, Atkinson could face the death sentence.
According to an investigator, Atkinson walked 8 miles from Gulfport to the police department in order to kill an officer.
After fleeing, he was arrested when an off-duty Biloxi police officer spotted him walking down a road in Wiggins and called authorities.
Atkinson kept a smile on his face as he was walked into the police station, and afterward when he went to court for an initial appearance.
Video surveillance captured footage of Atkinson walking into the police department just prior to the ambush. Atkinson could be seen wearing dark clothing, a red beanie cap and a smile on his face.
Night of the shooting
Gulfport police Detective Samuel Jewell provided details about the killing during Atkinson’s previous court appearance in June in Biloxi.
It happened shortly after Atkinson followed a couple inside the police station who was there to file a domestic complaint.
When the couple walked back outside, the investigator said Atkinson followed.
The couple caught up with McKeithen — who had been on patrol but returned to the station because of a flat tire — outside to talk to him about their domestic violence complaint.
The couple, who had two young toddlers with them, didn’t know Atkinson.
At one point, the investigator said, McKeithen talked to Atkinson to ask him if he had anything to do with the domestic incident.
Atkinson said he “don’t have nothing to do with it,” the officer said, and told McKeithen to leave him alone.
Afterward, Atkinson walked off and was standing by a tree before he reportedly walked back across the parking lot, pulled a .40-caliber Glock from his pants, and started firing.
Atkinson was within arm’s length of the police officer when he started shoot at him from behind, Jewell said.
Atkinson fired nine rounds, authorities said, with at least three of the bullets hitting McKeithen’s bulletproof vest, another grazing his head, and others piercing his body.
Some the shots missed McKeithen.
Others charged
The shooting and what happened in the minutes leading up to it was captured on the Biloxi Police Department’s surveillance cameras.
After some of the footage was released to the public, Atkinson first became a suspect after authorities received a tip from someone in the Biloxi School District, where he attended school. His mother also was among those who identified her son as the alleged killer.
The .40-caliber Glock used in the killing was recovered in a drainage ditch near a home where the magazine was also found.
Five others, including two of Atkinson’s brothers, were arrested on charges of accessory to capital murder for allegedly helping Atkinson escape arrest in the hours after the shooting.
Wanya Toquest Atkinson, 20, Davian Atkinson, 21, and three others, identified as Andre Sullivan, 18, Joshua Michael Kovach, 21, and Dalentez Latavian Brice, 20, were each arrested on charges of accessory after the fact to capital murder. They have not yet been indicted.
The five are accused of trying to help Darian Atkinson, either by providing him a change of clothes, a ride or a cellphone to make calls.
Kovach was released on a $500,000 bond on June 20. He and Davian Atkinson were the only two eligible for bond. Davian and the other three remain jailed pending grand jury action.
A home surveillance camera near his mother’s Biloxi home where he had been living captured footage of Darian Atkinson walking around with at least three of the five others charged.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 1:14 PM.
