A Hattiesburg police officer killed last weekend in the line of duty will be laid to rest in Starkville on Saturday.
Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols said his department and Starkville Fire Department plan to give 25-year-old Liquori Tate a hero’s send off, and he hopes area citizens will do the same.
Tate, 25, and another officer, 34-year-old Benjamin Deen, were shot dead during a traffic stop May 9 in Hattiesburg. Tate grew up in Starkville.
His funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at West Point Baptist Church in Hattiesburg. From there, Nichols said his honor guard, as well as officers from departments across Mississippi, will escort Tate’s body to Fox Cemetery on Blackjack Road.
Nichols said the escort detail will enter the Golden Triangle on Highway 45 and come into Starkville from the east on Highway 82. Then, it will exit to Highway 12 and turn south onto Blackjack Road toward the cemetery.
SFD, he said, would employ at least one ladder truck to display a large American flag along the route — most likely at the intersection of Spring Street and Highway 12.
“We want to encourage citizens to come out and pay tribute to this fallen hero,” Nichols said.
Nichols anticipates the body will arrive in Starkville about 6 p.m.
Mayor Parker Wiseman said city leadership mourns Tate’s death and wanted to honor his service.
“His roots in Starkville run deep,” Wiseman said. “He was raised in this community and he will forever be honored by our city as a local hero. (Tate’s death) is as sad as it gets. His service was noble and honorable. It is our responsibility, as the place where he was raised, to honor his valor and see to it that his good name lives on.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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