Lynch condemns Miss. police shootings

Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday condemned two police killings that occurred over the weekend in Mississippi.

Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate were shot to death Saturday night after a routine traffic stop.

The nation’s police officers deserve the public’s “unequivocal support,” Lynch said after the shootings, as racial tensions continue to rise between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

She called the police officers who were killed “profoundly heroic” and pledged to “do all that we can to protect our officers across the country and support all those who wear the badge.”

{mosads}“They exemplified the very best that our country has to offer,” Lynch said.

“The murder of these young men is a devastating reminder that the work our brave police officers perform every day is extremely dangerous, profoundly heroic, and deeply deserving of our unequivocal support,” she added. “All Americans owe these courageous citizens a debt of gratitude.”

Police have not released a motive for the shootings, but they come as racial tensions are on the rise between police and black communities.

Law enforcement officers have been criticized after the killings of unarmed black men in New York, Ferguson, Mo., and, more recently, Baltimore.

It is unclear whether race played a role in the Mississippi shootings. Police have arrested four suspects, and charged two of them — Marvin Banks, 29, and Joanie Calloway, 22 — with capital murder. 

One of the police officers killed in Mississippi was white, the other was black.

“Their loss is made even more tragic by the fact that, on the day they were killed this past Saturday, the country began observing Police Week — a time when we pause to remember and honor the more than 20,000 law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty,” Lynch noted.