This 2008 image provided by the Jackson, Miss. Police shows Detective Eric Smith. Authorities say a murder suspect shot Smith inside the Jackson police headquarters and that both the suspect and detective are dead. A Mississippi murder suspect used a Smith's gun to kill the detective and then himself inside police headquarters on Thursday, April 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Jackson Police)
This 2008 image provided by the Jackson, Miss. Police shows Detective Eric Smith. Authorities say a murder suspect shot Smith inside the Jackson police headquarters and that both the suspect and detective are dead. A Mississippi murder suspect used a Smith's gun to kill the detective and then himself inside police headquarters on Thursday, April 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Jackson Police)
This undated photo provided by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety shows Jeremy R. Powell. Authorities have identified Powell, 23, as the suspect who fatally shot Jackson Police Detective Eric Smith before killing himself in an interview room at the Jackson Police headquarters on Thursday, April 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Mississippi Department of Public Safety)
Law enforcement officers wait at the entrance to the Jackson Police Department Thursday, April, 4, 2013, after police say a murder suspect fatally shot detective Eric Smith inside the headquarters. The suspect is also dead. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Greg Jenson)
Jackson, Miss. Assistant Chief Lee Vance, center left, comforts Chief Rebecca Coleman, center right, Thursday, April, 4, 2013, after detective Eric Smith was shot and killed inside the Jackson Police Department. A suspect was also killed. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Greg Jenson)
In this 2008 image provided by the Jackson, Miss. Police, Detective Eric Smith, center, flanked by Chief Rebecca Coleman, left, and Assistant Chief Lee Vance accepts the Certificate of Commendation on behalf of Detective Amos Clinton in Jackson, Miss. Authorities say a murder suspect shot Smith inside the Jackson police headquarters and that both the suspect and detective are dead. (AP Photo/Jackson Police)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ? Authorities have a video from a police interrogation room that shows a murder suspect shooting a detective to death before killing himself with the officer's gun, a person with knowledge of the investigation said Saturday.
The suspect, Jeremy Powell, was not handcuffed during questioning at the Jackson Police Department on Thursday, the person said on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation.
Powell overpowered Det. Eric Smith and took his gun, shooting the veteran detective four times before shooting himself in the head inside a third-floor room of the department's headquarters, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said. Other officers heard the shots ring out and rushed to the interview room, but both men were dead.
The AP has asked for the video to be released under open records laws, but authorities have not responded to the request.
Powell, 23, was being questioned about the stabbing death of a man whose body was found Monday near a Jackson street.
Ken Winter, executive director of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police, said it's not unusual for a suspect to be unrestrained during questioning.
"It depends on the demeanor of the individual at the time. I would assume that the detective had no reason to believe this guy was aggressive or he wouldn't have been interviewing him in the first place," said Winter, who spent 36 years in law enforcement as a police chief, a detective and as director of the state crime lab.
Winter also said it's not uncommon for an officer to be armed during an interrogation.
"I don't think this detective was doing anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes you can do everything right and it still turn out bad," Winter said.
Smith, 40, is survived by his wife, Eneke, a sergeant with the Jackson Police Department, and two sons.
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Associated Press writer Jeff Amy contributed to this report.
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