Family supports officers’ use of lethal force after MS judge allegedly killed by son
Judge Sheila Osgood’s family gathered at City Hall on Friday to remember their mother and to tell the community they support Moss Point police officers using lethal force against their relative and Osgood’s son.
But first and foremost, Nubian Holmes spoke of the mother who had shaped his life and the life of so many others in his family and elsewhere in the community.
“My mother was the definition of a strong black woman,” Holmes said. “There was nothing she could not handle. She taught us with faith, all things are possible.
“There was nothing too big, nothing too small for her,” her son said. “My mother’s key attribute was that she treated everybody the same. ...She allowed people to be comfortable in their own skin, and she taught her boys the same. She truly believed that all men and women are created equal even though we are not always treated the same. So, it wasn’t scary for her on the bench as a judge, but comforting.”
Sheila Osgood, 65, was stabbed to death Wednesday at her home on Davis Street. Police later shot and killed her attacker and son, Gregory Jackson Jr., 45, who charged at police officers with a large knife.
As a family, he said, they are doing what their mother would have wanted in the aftermath of Jackson’s death.
“We ask God to have mercy on my brother’s soul,” he said. “We do that because my mamma ... would have done that. She wouldn’t have harbored any ill will. She wouldn’t have wanted us to dismiss him. She would have wanted us to remember him in his fondest hour, and we ask that you do the same.”
“She spoke of how she was able to stand before men and women of all backgrounds and do what was right,” he said. “Being a judge was a calling for my mom and she took it very seriously. She gave each and every individual that came before her a fair chance to experience integrity in our justice system.
Holmes spoke as well about how his mother never lost faith in the judicial system despite the current climate in the country with the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements and the global pandemic.
“All of us, all of us standing here before you today and so many more, so many more voices, so many face that you may not have seen that were touched by her life are a part of her story,” Holmes said, “ — a story that shaped Sheila Osgood into a sister, a friend, a neighbor, a judge and a mother. We should all be proud to celebrate a woman who left behind such a legacy that leaves behind good history.”
Holmes, who broke down in tears at times along with other relatives, urged the community do as the family is and support the actions of f law enforcement officers in this incident.
“Their commitment to peace, understanding and compassion first is why we are not grieving three lives this evening,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know that. They handled it compassionately. I thank them. I know their officers are on administrative leave and I want to say to their families, ‘Be proud of those officers.’
“Don’t condemn them for what they did .... to protect everybody. ” he said. “Don’t judge them. Celebrate them and support them because we do.”
Holmes also thanked Mayor Mario King for his support during this time.
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 5:55 PM.
