Mississippi judge Sheila Osgood stabbed to death by her son, police say

A Mississippi judge was fatally stabbed in her home last week by her son, who was later shot and killed after he charged at police officers with a large knife, according to officials. Jackson County Justice Court Judge Sheila Jackson Osgood, 65, was found dead Wednesday at her home at 3600 Davis Street.

Officers in Moss Point on the Gulf Coast said on that day, at about 11.30 am, they arrived at Osgood’s home to conduct a welfare check on her after being absent from work. The officers said they left when no one answered the door but they came back an hour later following reports of a disturbance.

An arriving officer heard gunshots and called for backup, a statement from the Moss Point Police Department said. The officer went inside the home and found Osgood on the floor dead. As other officers were securing the crime scene in the house, the Moss Point police statement said a man, later identified as the judge’s son Gregory Jackson, 45, approached them with “a large knife.”

“The officers issued numerous commands for him to disarm himself, but he ignored them and continued to advance on them,” the statement said. His “rapid, aggressive advance on the officers” caused the responding officers to “discharge their firearms, fatally wounding the suspect,” the statement added.

The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave pending investigations. Osgood’s oldest son, Nubian Holmes, at a press conference on Friday, described his mom as one who never shied away from helping others.

“So many voices, so many faces that you may not see here that were touched by her life are part of her story.

“A story that shaped Sheila Osgood into a sister, a friend, a neighbor, a judge, and a mother,” Holmes said, according to WLOX.

Holmes, who called for prayers for his brother who was killed, was also grateful to the police for the way they handled the case.

“The Moss Point Police Department responded and handled this so compassionately,” said Holmes. “I thank them. I know that those officers are on administrative leave. I want to say to their families, be proud of those officers. Don’t condemn them for what they did because they did what they did to protect everybody.”

Moss Point Supervisor Melton Harris called Osgood a “very vocal individual.”

“She would speak and she would always look to both sides of the story for whatever she was dealing with,” Harris told WLOX.