A resident of the Pinola community in Simpson County is facing charges of child pornography after being arrested at University of Southern Mississippi’s parking garage, following an attempt of “self harm” at the site off of West 4th Street on the university’s Hattiesburg campus.
According to an April 5 news release issued by USM officials, university police were notified at approximately 12:45 p.m. that day by the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office that an individual wanted on felony charges had been spotted on campus. Shortly after that call, police located an armed man – who was not affiliated with the university – in the parking garage, where he threatened to harm himself.
After negotiating with the man, officers from USM, the Hattiesburg Police Department, the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office, the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics were able to resolve the situation without incident.
The suspect, who was later identified by SCSO as 25-year-old DaMarcus Tyrese Burkett of the Pinola community, was taken into custody and was transported to the Simpson County Jail. He was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of enticement of a child.
“I commend the work of all agencies and the cooperation of the university community members in responding to today’s incident,” said Rusty Keyes, Assistant Vice President for Public Safety/Chief of Police at USM. “The safety of our students is our main priority, and the timely management of today’s events demonstrates our conscious efforts to protect the health and well-being of our university community.
“(Hattiesburg police) Chief Hardy Sims and the Hattiesburg Police Department were instrumental in the successful resolution of today’s incident.”
Officials have not determined why Burkett was on the Southern Miss campus. An “Eagle Alert,” which is a messaging system used by USM officials to communicate with students, staff and faculty in the events of emergency or other matters, was sent out at approximately 1:10 p.m. to alert those individuals of the situation.
According to information provided by the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office, Burkett had been previously arrested on February 8 and charged with one count of enticement of a child and two counts of possession of child pornography. At the time of his arrest at USM, Burkett was free on a $150,000 for those charges, and had been scheduled for a court appearance that same day.
