The veterinarian who fatally shot two Mississippi police officers in a Motel 6 parking lot was killed by one of the cops who returned fire, authorities revealed Friday, as other new details emerged in the perplexing case.
Amy Brogdon Anderson and Bay St. Louis Police Officer Branden Estorffe discharged simultaneous shots after she first opened fire, killing Sgt. Steven Robin from inside her SUV, Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell told WLOX News.
Both of the latter shots were precise, and all three were found dead in the Bay St. Louis parking lot Wednesday morning. Anderson’s 8-year-old daughter was in the car and witnessed the chaos, but was not injured.
The commissioner divulged several other key details in the case, including why Anderson had been acting so frantically.
“Amy thought that she was being followed and clearly was showing some signs of mental health issues,” Tindell said.
A distressed Anderson had checked into the motel, approximately 650 miles from her Ocean Springs home, at 2:30 a.m. and asked the front desk manager to call 911 an hour later. Robin and Estorffe arrived within five minutes to find Anderson wildly packing her belongings from her room and into her SUV, the commissioner said.
Officers spoke with her and her young daughter and were petting the family’s three dogs. Bodycam footage shows that the interactions remained cordial for approximately 30 minutes.
The white truck with plates from another state that Anderson thought was following her just happened to be passing through the parking lot of the motel, according to Tindell. Robin ran a background check on the truck and determined Anderson’s paranoia was unfounded.
The officers became increasingly concerned for the 8-year-old’s safety, so Estorffe walked a short distance from Anderson to call Child Protective Services.
“It was about that time that you heard a commotion and when he came around the corner Officer Robin had been shot in the head and rather instantaneously he drew his weapon was able to get two rounds off. She got two rounds off striking Officer Estorffe but he managed to shoot her in the chest,” Tindell said.
“Both of them received fatal wounds in that split second.”
Officials initially suspected that Anderson committed suicide after gunning down Robin at close range and Estorffe from about 20 yards away. Robin and Anderson died at the scene, while Estorffe was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Police are still investigating the incident and trying to piece together what led to Anderson’s distress. The only witness, Tindell pointed out, is a very traumatized 8-year-old girl.
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“I don’t know what she saw,” said Tindell, “but she was there.”
Anderson was working as an emergency veterinarian with a focus on small animals at the 24-hour animal hospital MedVet Mobile, her Facebook page said, which also states she is “single.”
Earlier in the year, Anderson wrote about a Hawaiian vacation she took with her three children.
“The kids and I checked another big item off of our bucket list, and we had the most amazing vacation with some added education in Maui, Hawaii!!” she wrote. “It was without a doubt the most beautiful place we’ve ever been, and we packed as much adventure, fun, hysterical laughs, and memories as we could in 6 days.”