Activists demand release of body cam video after single mom killed by Biloxi police officer
A non-profit group pushing for transparency and reform in policing is demanding the release of body camera footage of a woman fatally shot by Biloxi police.
Mable Arrington, 42, died in surgery after a Biloxi police officer shot her at a housing complex at 330 Benachi Avenue around 9 p.m. Monday.
Arrington lived at the apartment complex with her children.
The Mississippi Alliance for Public Safety issued the demand Wednesday after speaking to a relative of Arrington about the incident.
The relative, the group said, alleges that Biloxi police officers “entered her apartment forcibly without a warrant and shot her five times with her children present in the apartment.”
However, Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer said Arrington was shot outside the apartment. An autopsy showed she died of multiple gunshot wounds, he said.
Since the shooting, a family friend said witnesses have indicated that Arrington had gotten upset over a few children allegedly mistreating Arrington’s kids earlier in the day and police later got a call to go there in response to a complaint.
What happened next is unclear.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is handling the independent investigation but has released little information other than the date, location and time of the shooting and that one person was injured.
Biloxi police later told the Sun Herald the police officer involved had been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the results of the investigation.
The group is calling on Biloxi Police Chief John Miller to release the camera footage, noting he has the discretion to do so despite the state public records act that makes investigative reports and related material, such as the body camera footage, exempt from public disclosure, during an active investigation.
“As a matter of public safety, ...Chief Miller has the discretion and obligation to release the body cam footage to the public without further delay,” the group said.
The Mississippi Rising Coalition is also supporting the call to release police camera footage of the shooting.
Those who knew and loved Arrington described her as a loving mother and friend.
The Rev. Rashawn Bey of Unbroken Ministries in Gulfport is among those who took the time to remember Arrington.
“She was a very sweet person,” Bey said. “Everybody around here knew her. She was always laughing and joking and could sing very well. She was the type that didn’t bother anybody, and she stayed in her lane.”
Arrington, he said, started bringing her children to church services at Urban Ministries while she lived in Gulfport and often sang at the church.
“She was a single parent, and she always had her children with her no matter what,” Bey said. “She made sure they attended church and made sure they were dressed nice, and anything you needed, she’d be ready and willing to do.”
Bey said he is among those who would like to know exactly what happened the night Arrington lost her life.
“We definitely want the truth,” he said.
