Crime & Safety
$10K Reward Offered As Manhunt Continues For Officer Kennis Croom's Accused Killer
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected of killing officer Kennis Croom on Thursday.
MERIDIAN, MS — The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected of killing his pregnant fiancé and then a Mississippi police officer originally from Tuscaloosa.
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As Patch reported Thursday night, 30-year-old Kennis Croom, an officer with the Meridian Police Department who grew up in Tuscaloosa County and worked at one time with the Eutaw Police Department, was shot and critically injured as he responded on the initial call just after 5:30 p.m.
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He died Thursday evening after being airlifted to a Mississippi hospital.
The Tuscaloosa Police Department informed local media Friday morning that Croom's body would be escorted back to Tuscaloosa County sometime this afternoon.
Find out what's happening in Tuscaloosafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The suspect was then identified as 31-year-old Dante Bender, who fled the scene after shooting Croom and has yet to be located by police.
According to Mississippi journalist Therese Apel of Darkhorse Press — an independent online news publication that closely covers law enforcement across the Magnolia State — Bender is also suspected of trying to harm four children on the scene after killing his fiancé. However, Apel wrote that investigators believe Croom stopped him from doing so.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation first alerted the public that he could possibly be in the area of Interstate 20 and Interstate 59 in Mississippi, while another emergency alert stated Bender could possibly be traveling toward Newton County, Mississippi.
He is described at 5-foot, 11-inches tall and weighing 299 pounds.
Bender was last seen in the area of 21st Avenue in Meridian just after 5:30 p.m. Thursday evening. Investigators believe he is driving a 2004 black Nissan Armada.
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