Two women were found dead inside a home in Long Beach, Mississippi, on Friday morning, November 13, and hours later the man police named as a suspect in the case was shot by sheriff's deputies at a motel in Pensacola, Florida, after authorities say he fired at them. The case now spans two states, two separate investigations and one family: the dead women were a mother and daughter, and the suspect is the mother's son and the younger woman's brother.
Source: WLOX / Gray News via WVLT
Long Beach police responded to the home at about 10:15 a.m. on Friday after a reported shooting, and found both women dead inside, according to Long Beach Police Chief Billy Seal. Local reports put the home on Lantana Boulevard in Long Beach, a small Gulf Coast city in Harrison County, Mississippi.
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The two deaths are being treated very differently
The women were identified as Doris Crimmins, 84, and her daughter Kimberly Hernandez, 63, both of Long Beach. Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer said Crimmins owned the home and had been receiving hospice care for cardiac issues, and that her death appeared to be natural, although an autopsy was planned to establish the cause. Hernandez's death, by contrast, is being investigated as a homicide, Switzer said.
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Investigators named Richard Timothy Ward as a suspect in the investigation. Ward is Crimmins' son and Hernandez's brother, Chief Seal said, and he described the incident as domestic-related. Police have not publicly released a full account of what happened inside the home, and the allegations against Ward have not been proven in court — he is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise.
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A vehicle lead took the search about 100 miles east, to Pensacola
Police identified a vehicle connected with the incident and traced it east along the Gulf Coast to Pensacola, Florida, roughly 100 miles from Long Beach on the Interstate 10 corridor. Information was shared with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Highway Patrol, and officers located Ward at a motel on Plantation Road in Pensacola — identified in local reporting as the Sweet Dream Inn, in the 7300 block of Plantation Road.
Source: BuzzReport News
Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said in a video posted to Facebook that deputies and highway patrol officers learned on Friday afternoon that a homicide suspect was staying at the motel. When deputies made contact with Ward, he pulled out a gun, Simmons said. After deputies gave him several commands to put the weapon away, Ward fired at them, the sheriff said. Three deputies returned fire and struck Ward. No deputies were reported injured.
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Long Beach police and the Harrison County coroner are investigating the two deaths in Mississippi — a homicide inquiry for Kimberly Hernandez and an autopsy for Doris Crimmins. Separately, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the deputy-involved shooting in Pensacola, which is the standard review for a shooting involving Florida officers.
Ward survived the shooting, was taken to a hospital for treatment and was arrested after the confrontation, Chief Seal said. His medical condition has not been publicly confirmed in the reports reviewed. A jail record in Escambia County later listed a Richard Timothy Ward in custody on a homicide-related charge, although a booking record alone does not establish guilt or the outcome of the Mississippi investigation.
Source: DailyHunt Obituaries report
Why this case is drawing attention beyond the Gulf Coast
Cases that begin as a family tragedy in one state and end in a police shooting in another test how quickly small-city departments, county coroners, state patrols and sheriff's offices can share a vehicle lead across state lines. Here, the timeline authorities describe is tight: a 10:15 a.m. discovery in Long Beach, and a confrontation the same afternoon in Pensacola, after the vehicle was identified and the information was passed to Florida agencies. For readers along the I-10 corridor — one of the main east-west trucking routes across the Gulf Coast — the Pensacola motel confrontation also unfolded beside one of the region's busiest freight and travel arteries, though authorities reported no wider disruption and no deputies hurt.
What happens next
Three things come next. First, the autopsy planned for Crimmins should give a formal cause of death, testing the coroner's early view that she died naturally while receiving hospice care. Second, Long Beach detectives continue the homicide investigation into Hernandez's death, including what happened inside the home before police arrived. Third, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's review of the deputy-involved shooting will run its course, and Ward faces the court process in connection with the case once his medical treatment allows. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when authorities release the autopsy result, formal charges or the FDLE findings.