JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) — Jackson City Council Member Kenneth Stokes is firing back at the Rankin County undersheriff after being referenced in a recent Facebook post.
Stokes held a news conference Friday morning to address the issue.
Wednesday shots were fired at a Pearl Police officer’s home in South Jackson. As a response to the incident, Rankin County Undersheriff Raymond Duke made a Facebook post about the crime.
“Hiding in the dark, some cowardly punks targeted Officer Jenkins for his career choice,” Duke said. “It is by the grace of God the Jenkins were not injured. The attack against Officer Jenkins has forced him to move out of Jackson for his own safety. If the thugs weren’t encoduraged to throw rocks, bottles, and sticks, maybe they would not have felt so comfortable in attempting to assassinate an officer simply because of the job he does.”
You may remember a couple of years ago, Stokes was upset about high-speed chases coming into Jackson from other jurisdictions.
He said back in December 2015 “get rocks, let’s get bricks and let’s get bottles and start throwing them and then they won’t come in here anymore.”
Stokes believed that Duke’s comment about “thugs” throwing rocks and bottles was a reference to his 2015 statement.
“He just lied by saying that the people in Jackson, like we all just shooting up a house, and he’s sure a bastard,” Stoke said Friday morning. “So how is that not true, he’s a hoghead lying bastard.”
Stokes says he has not read the actual Facebook post, but someone told him about it. He said Duke is jumping to conclusions, and now he is angry at the idea of him implying that Jackson citizens don’t respect law enforcement. He called the undersheriff’s comments irresponsible and racist.
While he is angry about the social media message, Stoke says he also sympathizes with the Pearl officer who was affected by this.
WJTV talked with Duke about Stokes’ remarks. He said he didn’t want to feed into the madness. He also suggested that Stokes should read his post thoroughly.
He issued the following statement:
“I will not allow the statements made by Ken Stokes to take the focus from the original message.
We had a fellow officer who was viciously attacked by cowardly thugs and was in need of assistance. The outpouring of love and support for Officer Alfred Jenkins has been simply amazing. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support.” – Raymond Duke
Read Duke’s Facebook post below.
