The woman who shot dead two cops in a hotel parking lot on Thursday has been identified as a 43-year-old veterinarian and mother. Amy Brogdon Anderson, of Ocean Springs, allegedly shot to death two cops as they carried out a wellness check on her while she was sitting with her 10-year-old daughter in an SUV outside Motel 6 in Bay St. Louis.
The two cops have been identified as Officer Brendan Estorffe, 23, and Sgt. Steven Robin, 34. According to reports, Anderson spoke to the officers for a long time before she pulled a gun and started shooting at them. She too was found dead from self-inflected gunshot wound.
Killed in Broad Daylight
Anderson randomly started shooting at the officers and they fell to the ground after taking multiple hits. Robin died on the scene, while Estorffe succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Many who knew Anderson were surprised to learn she was responsible for two such horrific killings.
Anderson — who had no criminal past and was generally well-liked in the town — had spent 30 minutes speaking to Robin and Estorffe before flipping out and gunning them down, according to Bay St. Louis police.
Police stated that they suspect the distraught mother shot herself to death, but one of the cops also fired a shot, so an autopsy will be performed to confirm the exact cause of the death, according to wtok.com.
However, it is unclear whether Anderson shot herself during or following the incident. Anderson's daughter, whose name has not been released, was not injured.
"A tragedy occurred here today in the city of Bay St. Louis as two of our finest officers' lives were taken," Bay St. Louis Police Chief Toby Schwartz said at a press conference Thursday morning. "We are gathering facts and will ensure a thorough investigation into this matter."
Schwartz added that he was "not here to discuss the details of yesterday's tragedy" but to honor the lives of "two heroes that sacrificed their lives for the good of society."
Strange Behavior
Anderson studied nutrition and dietetics at the University of Southern Mississippi Before earning her veterinary medicine degree at Mississippi State University, according to the Sun Herald. She later began working at the Vicksburg Animal Hospital, where her father had practiced medicine.
According to her Facebook page, Anderson recently began working as an emergency veterinarian at the round-the-clock veterinary clinic MedVet Mobile with an emphasis on small animals.
After earning her degree from Mississippi State University in 2005, she told the Vicksburg Post, "I wanted to be a veterinarian since I was old enough to know what it was. What it takes is good people skills... I use that a lot more than what I learned in vet school."
She also works at the Lakeview Animal Hospital in D'Iberville, Mississippi, according to the information she provided on her Facebook page, which also states that she is "single" and is crammed with joyful images of her kids, pets, and travel.
She wrote about her family's enjoyable trip to Maui in April. "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."
A former coworker of Anderson's told DailyMail.com that she had only been hired by the Lakeview animal hospital for around 33 days prior to the shooting despite having worked as a local veterinarian for several years.
According to their account, Anderson was a "very, very compassionate person" who "cried over a bearded lizard" that was being treated at the clinic.
Anderson's actions are "definitely not something they would've expected or seen coming," the source said, adding that it is "impossible to assess somebody" who you have only known for a few weeks.
Additionally, it appears that Anderson and Royce Jarrell Mize, with whom she at the time shared her last name, jointly filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2017.
