Officer James Lee Tartt, 44, a Mississippi narcotics agent, was fatally shot in a standoff at a rural Mississippi residence on Saturday, February 20, 2016. Officer Tartt and several other officers attempted to negotiate for six hours with the suspect and gunman, Charles Lee Lambert, 45, who was holding his wife and son hostage during a domestic dispute.
Lambert released his wife and son after some
negotiation, but opened fire as the officers
approached the house, killing Officer Tartt and wounding three other officers, who were taken to the hospital. Lambert was also shot and killed in the incident.
Officer Lee Tartt had served in law enforcement for 22 years, joining the narcotics bureau in 2000 and quickly earning agent of the year in 2011. Shortly after that, he received the H. Lane Caldwell Award of Valor in 2012. Officer Tartt’s friends, colleagues, and family recall him as a dedicated officer who spent most of his career battling drug crime and distribution.
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“Ever since I’ve known him he has always been the type who would do anything to make the world a better place.”
Officer Tartt left behind a wife, two stepchildren, extended family, and friends, as well as a whole state police and public safety department that will miss him dearly. But an unexpected letter from a state inmate, is perhaps one of the most moving condolences received so far.
Upon hearing of his death, Teddy McRaney, a Grenada County state inmate serving time for
selling cocaine, wrote this letter to “offer a different perspective of a fallen hero and a fine man, the late MBN agent, Mr. Lee Tartt”
Officer Tartt is the fifth Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agent killed in agency’s 45-year history. Many more words of praise were spoken of Officer Tartt during his funeral on February 23 in Grenada, MS, and in the days prior. Grenada Officer Ricky Williamson said of him:
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“Lee despised drugs with a passion that is hard to fathom but never harbored hatred for the people he arrested.”
Our condolences to Officer Tartt’s family and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, who lost a self-less man and a devoted officer.
