Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi prison guard is suspended from his job after being charged with capital murder, kidnapping and armed robbery in a crime in Jackson’s upscale Eastover neighborhood.
The state Department of Corrections said Andre Kennedy, 22, was suspended without pay Wednesday from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. He was arrested Tuesday.
Jackson police said Kennedy was involved in a kidnapping that ended with another man’s death. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Kennedy has an attorney. He is in jail without bond.
Police said a doctor was outside his own Eastover home Saturday morning and was putting items in his pickup truck when two gunmen approached him and demanded money. The doctor was forced to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash.
Police said the gunmen forced the doctor to drive to another place and told him to get out of the vehicle. As he did, he pulled a handgun and fired at the suspects, killing Edwin Robinson, 23.
Officers told The Clarion-Ledger that the shooting was considered justifiable homicide, and the doctor has not been charged. However, the case will be presented to a grand jury.
Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher said Kennedy had worked at the prison in Rankin County since January 2014. Because a state employee has civil-service protection, Kennedy is suspended without pay while he awaits due process.
“We are in the process of implementing new hiring policies, including the use of polygraphs,” Fisher said in a statement. “Although polygraphs are not foolproof, they are an excellent tool in the hiring process.”