James Tillman's baseball cap lies near a ditch in Lexington
where his body fell after he was fatally shot early Sunday morning.
"One of my deputies was involved in a shooting," said Holmes County
Sheriff Willie March. The Sheriff says the investigation is
continuing as to why his deputy fired at Tillman. "Why, why, why?
Explain why did that happen?" asked Tilman's sister Valerie.
Tillman's family is grieving and wondering how the situation escalated
into such violence. Around 4 in the morning Sunday, a sheriff's deputy
responded to a report of simple assault at the Yellow Tree Club. A
woman claimed Tillman beat her outside the club, say witnesses, who
also say that when the deputy arrived, Tillman fled on foot. The
officer followed. "That's where he pulled out his weapon," said James
Bankhead, who witnessed the chase around a trailer. Tillman
led the officer down an incline and into the woods, where no witnesses
were able to see, but they heard a single gunshot."I ran down
here then the police turned around and pulled out the gun at me and
said, 'Get back up the hill,' so i ran back up there," said Tillman's
friend Hercules Stewart. Stewart said he could see Tillman lying
in a ditch and bleeding, shot in the stomach. Tillman died after being
transported to University Hospital in Jackson. [more 
]
]- Chief pledges full investigation of incident [more ]