Hancock County officer dies after shooting. He ‘was an incredible deputy,’ sheriff says

A deputy shot Monday afternoon while responding to a call has died from his injuries, Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam said in a news release Monday evening.

Adam identified the deputy as Lt. Michael Boutte, an Air Force veteran who had been in law enforcement for eight years.

Boutte was first to a respond to a report of an attempted suicide on Caesar Necaise Road in the Necaise community, Adam told the Sun Herald.

He was shot while trying to get out of his vehicle, Adam said. A second deputy who arrived shortly afterward also was fired upon, and returned fire, injuring the shooter.

Boutte and the suspect were airlifted to a hospital in New Orleans.

“The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office suffered a huge loss today,” Adam said. “Mike was an incredible deputy and more so a fine person.

“He was a mentor to our younger deputies and I know he will be greatly missed by his peers. You never saw him without a smile or a positive attitude.

“I can’t begin to describe the heart break we are all experiencing right now. My thoughts, prayers and heart go out to his family and loved ones.”

In the Air Force, Boutte served in Operation Desert Storm, and later attended the U.S. Marine Corps Police Academy and served in the reserves in New Orleans, according to a release from Adam.

Boutte was “awarded the Life Saving Medal for saving a child’s life and was credited with spearheading National Crime Night Out and initiating the Silver Alert Database for the City of Diamondhead,” the sheriff’s department said.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations and its Crime Scene Unit responded to the scene and will be investigating.

This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 6:44 PM.