Harrison Co. Sheriff’s Dept. mourning the loss of Deputy Leroy Barnes
HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - The coast law enforcement community is mourning the death of Harrison County Deputy Leroy Barnes, who lost his life over the weekend in a tragic drowning accident. We’re told he was doing something he loved, fishing, when the incident occurred.
“It’s a tragedy, no matter how you look at it, it’s a tragedy. When it’s one of your own, it just hits different. it hits different,” Barnes’ supervisor Matt Haley said.
Deputy Barnes was a prisoner transport officer for the county, and pretty much did any job they gave him, including working on the beach with beach patrol.
“Leroy was what you’d call a multi-purpose sheriff’s deputy.”
And no matter what he was doing, we’re told Barnes always did it with a smile on his face.
“He did a lot of things in a lot of different aspects of the department,” Haley said. “You never saw Leroy without a smile, even if it was something, even if it was something he didn’t really want to do, he was still smiling.”
The 54-year-old joined the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department in 2018. Since news of his death spread, the department has received an outpouring of love and recognition from all over the state.
“A lot of people don’t realize how close law enforcement is, and that’s every agency, and not just an agency within itself. If something happens to one of the people with our brother or sister agencies, it hurts just the same. What’s good about this blue family is we’ll all come together and handle this together,” Haley added.
Funeral arrangements for Deputy Barnes are pending.
The Harrison County Deputy Sheriff’s Association is organizing a smoked pork butt fundraiser to help the family with funeral expenses. Donations are also being accepted. If you’re interested in learning more, call (228) 896-0677 or check out the post of the Sheriff’s Department’s Facebook page.
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