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Katrina Simpson

Age : 27

Gender : Female

Race : Black

Date : 09/16/2021

Location : 151 N Mound Street

City : Yazoo City

County : Yazoo

State : Mississippi

Agency : Yazoo County Sheriff's Office, Yazoo City Police Department

Officer(s) :Unknown

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed under undisclosed circumstances during police encounter

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/16/2021, Yazoo City police shot and killed 54-year-old Timothy Grayson during a hostage incident near Broadway and Mound streets that also resulted in the death of 27-year-old Katrina Simpson. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation because Yazoo City officers were involved in Grayson's death.
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The incident developed from a bank robbery the previous day. Police alleged that on 09/15/2021 Grayson entered a Regions Bank on Main Street and gave a teller a note demanding $10,000. Interim Yazoo City Police Chief Joseph Head said Grayson also told the teller, "I'm not suicidal, I'm homicidal." Police obtained bank surveillance images, and the FBI assisted Yazoo City investigators with the robbery investigation.
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On 09/16/2021, Grayson reportedly asked Simpson, who knew him, for a ride to a store. Simpson agreed and Grayson got into the back seat of her vehicle. Simpson's mother, Leegertha Simpson, said Grayson subsequently held her daughter hostage at gunpoint and would not allow her to stop the vehicle when he saw police.
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Police received a report that a woman had been taken hostage in a vehicle. The encounter ultimately reached the area of a car wash and gas station near Broadway and Mound streets. Simpson was in the driver's seat and Grayson was in the rear passenger seat.
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The precise sequence of the fatal gunfire was initially left strikingly unclear. Yazoo County Coroner Ricky Shivers said he believed Simpson was killed while attempting to run away from Grayson during the hostage situation. Simpson's mother likewise said she believed Grayson killed her daughter before police shot Grayson. Contemporary authorities nevertheless released few details establishing the precise order of shots or the forensic evidence establishing who fired the bullet that killed Simpson.
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Yazoo City Police acknowledged that its officers were involved in Grayson's death but declined to release details of the shooting because MBI had assumed the investigation. Chief Head said MBI possessed video covering the incident, including footage associated with the original call, hostage situation and shooting.
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Grayson's case therefore has an unusually important evidentiary distinction: although two people died during the encounter, the available accounts indicate that police killed Grayson while Simpson was apparently killed during the hostage incident before or during the police confrontation. Simpson should not be classified as a person shot by police unless forensic evidence establishes that police gunfire caused her death.
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MBI served as the outside investigative agency rather than leaving Yazoo City Police to investigate its own officers. The existence of video evidence means the investigation should have been capable of establishing the chronology of the shooting, the actions of Grayson and Simpson immediately before the gunfire, which officers fired, and the source of the fatal wounds.
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Despite that evidence, the readily accessible public record remains sparse concerning the ultimate resolution. The later material located for this update does not provide a detailed public MBI report, identify the Yazoo City officer or officers who fired at Grayson, disclose the number of police rounds fired, or provide a detailed public reconstruction of the final confrontation.
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Katrina Simpson was 27 years old. Her death should be specifically recorded in Grayson's narrative because the police confrontation in which Grayson was killed arose directly from her reported kidnapping and hostage situation and resulted in two deaths.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Yazoo City police officer or officers who shot and killed Timothy Grayson have not been publicly identified.
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Because their identities remain undisclosed, individual prior-shooting, complaint, discipline and civil-litigation histories cannot reliably be attributed to the officers who fired at Grayson.
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There is, however, significant documented institutional history involving the Yazoo City Police Department from the period surrounding this case. A federal civil-rights case arising from the 2018 death of Marshawn Williams alleged false arrest, excessive force and denial of medical care by Yazoo City officers and jail personnel. Williams died after suffering a lacerated liver and extensive internal bleeding while detained. Fellow detainees reportedly spent two to three hours banging on cell doors and telling a jailer that Williams was experiencing a medical emergency.
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The litigation alleged that officers knew Williams had been struck with a metal pipe and was particularly vulnerable to internal bleeding, while jail personnel failed to obtain timely medical treatment. A federal district court found factual disputes significant enough for portions of the case, including denial-of-care claims, to proceed rather than disposing of all claims at summary judgment. The Fifth Circuit addressed the defendants' subsequent qualified-immunity appeal in 2022.
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That earlier death does not establish wrongdoing in Grayson's shooting, but it represents substantive civil-rights litigation involving the same small municipal police department and allegations concerning use of force, training and treatment of a person in its custody.
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The accountability issue most directly pertinent to Grayson's case remains the lack of a readily accessible final public accounting despite an outside MBI investigation and the existence of video evidence. Identification of the officers who fired and release of MBI's final investigative findings would allow meaningful review of both the shooting and the individual officers' histories.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wjtv.com/news/local/few-details-released-in-deadly-officer-involved-shooting-in-yazoo-city/
https://www.wapt.com/article/officer-involved-in-shooting-in-yazoo-city/37625507
https://www.yazooherald.net/crime-local-news-top-stories/bank-robbery-hostage-situation-shoot-out-leaves-two-people-dead
https://www.wlbt.com/2021/09/20/man-killed-during-officer-involved-shooting-yazoo-city-robbed-bank-day-before-incident-police-say/
https://www.wlbt.com/2021/09/16/mother-woman-killed-during-police-involved-shooting-thursday-speaks-out/
https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-61061-CV0.pdf