Cops: Man killed, officer hurt in Miss. Wal-Mart shootout

IUKA, Miss. - A man was killed and a police officer was injured after what began as a traffic pursuit ended with an exchange of gunfire inside a Wal-Mart store in northeastern Mississippi, authorities said Sunday.

Two officers from the Iuka Police Department started following a man in a car around 6:10 p.m., Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said.

After a pursuit that lasted about five minutes, the man pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, "bailed out of his car" and entered the store, Strain said. The officers followed him inside, and the man opened fire.

Officers returned fire, killing him, Strain said.

One officer was taken to a hospital for a minor injury and has since been released. No bystanders were injured.

The preliminary investigation shows a conservation officer inside the store may have also been involved in the shooting, Strain said.

The suspect has been identified as Howard Brent Means Jr., 34, of Tishomingo, Mississippi. It was not immediately clear how many times he was shot.

The state medical examiner will perform an autopsy, and the MBI will complete a standard independent review of the incident.

Strain said crime scene investigators were collecting evidence Sunday night at the store in Iuka, about five miles from the Alabama border.