¶2. While investigating a felony that occurred the morning of November 29, 2017,
officers from the Hattiesburg Police Department developed Russell as a suspect in the crime.
After arriving at Russell’s apartment complex and confirming the apartment in which Russell
lived, the officers evacuated the occupants of several surrounding apartments. The officers
observed someone peering through the curtain of Russell’s apartment, but no one responded
to the officers’ attempts to make contact. The officers used a bullhorn to explain their
presence outside the apartment and to provide Russell with an opportunity to voluntarily exit
his apartment. Despite their attempts, the officers’ efforts to contact Russell proved
unsuccessful.
¶3. In the event that Russell had been unable to hear their previous attempts to contact
him, the officers breached the windows of the apartment after obtaining a search warrant.
They then attempted again, unsuccessfully, to contact Russell. The officers next deployed
a flash bang by the apartment’s front door, which also failed to elicit any response to their
commands for any occupants to exit the apartment. The officers eventually entered the
apartment through the front door. Although they did not immediately see Russell, the
officers observed a closet that contained a stool positioned underneath an opening to the
apartment’s attic crawl space. The officers called to Russell and tried to persuade him to exit
the attic. After Russell failed to respond, the officers threw a chemical agent into the attic
crawl space. Russell finally exited the attic wearing only a white tank top and his underwear.