Police Chief Fatally Shoots Himself In Parking Lot

Bay St. Louis Miss., Police Chef Mike De Nardo could have been hiding something very big if he chose suicide after being suspended from his duties as part of an investigation.

The police chief, who had spent 30 years in law enforcement, gathered his belongings and walked out to the parking lot of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office where he grabbed a gun and shot himself. Despite being accompanied by two Hancock deputies, De Nardo was still able to shoot himself in the chest. It’s unclear who the gun belonged to.

According to witnesses, De Nardo continued speaking after shooting himself as he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Miss. He was later announced dead at 3:15 p.m.

No details were given on what De Nardo was under investigation for, but according to Bay St. Louis Mayor Les Fillingame, he believed De Nardo would have been cleared of any wrongdoing by the investigation.

“We were made aware of what seemed to be credible evidence,” Fillingame told WLOX. “No charges were filed. Just the very initial phase of an investigation.”

According to Fillingame, De Nardo was also dealing with personal issues.

“It’s just a bad day — a bad day for law enforcement,” Hancock County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Don Bass told the Associated Press.