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Robert D. Bailey

Age : 35

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/14/2021

Location : Mt. Zion Church, Blossom Road

City : Morton

County : Scott

State : Mississippi

Agency : Scott County Sheriff's Office

Officer(s) :Unknown

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during response to shooting at church workers

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/14/2021, Scott County Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed 50-year-old Robert D. Bailey outside Mt. Zion Church on Blossom Road in Scott County after workers at the church reported that someone was firing at them. The incident occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m. and was later classified by the FBI as one of the active-shooter incidents that occurred in the United States during 2021.
Workers were present at Mt. Zion Church when gunfire began. According to the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Bailey was positioned in or near a tree line across the road from the church and was firing toward the workers. The available accounts do not report that any of the workers was struck by the gunfire.
Scott County deputies responded to the church and located Bailey across the road near the tree line. Police reported that Bailey was armed with multiple firearms. The FBI’s subsequent national active-shooter review specifies that Bailey was armed with both a rifle and a shotgun.
Deputies confronted Bailey near the tree line. Police reported an exchange of gunfire between Bailey and the responding deputies. Deputies fired at Bailey and killed him at the scene. The FBI’s later review likewise records that the gunman exchanged gunfire with law enforcement before police killed him.
No church worker, deputy or other civilian was reported shot during the incident. The FBI classified the location as a house of worship and recorded no casualties other than Bailey.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was called to conduct the investigation into the deputies’ use of deadly force. The case therefore moved from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, whose deputies fired the fatal shots, to MBI for review.
The later FBI report provides useful independent confirmation of several details that were only briefly described in the original local coverage. Its review identifies the incident as occurring at approximately 1:45 p.m., identifies Bailey as 50 years old, specifies that he possessed a rifle and shotgun, states that he fired at workers at the church, and records an exchange of gunfire with responding law enforcement before his death.
The publicly available record remains unusually sparse beyond those findings. No later detailed MBI investigative report, prosecutor decision, grand-jury disposition, body-camera or dashboard-camera release, autopsy report, ballistic reconstruction, civil lawsuit or family challenge to the official account was located in publicly indexed sources. The available record also does not establish how many deputies fired, how many rounds Bailey or deputies fired, or which officers' gunfire struck him.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Scott County Sheriff’s Office deputies who shot Bailey have not been publicly identified in the records located for this update.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wlbt.com/2021/08/18/deputies-kill-suspected-active-shooter-outside-church/
https://www.wjtv.com/news/local/scott-county-sheriff-man-killed-in-deputy-involved-shooting-after-firing-shots-at-workers/
https://www.wapt.com/article/deputy-involved-shooting-at-mt-zion-church-in-scott-county/37342757
https://www.magnoliastatelive.com/2021/08/19/mississippi-sheriff-active-shooter-targeting-workers-at-church-killed-by-deputies/
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-incidents-in-the-us-2021-052422.pdf