For Immediate Release

Jackson, MS – The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, with assistance from the Choctaw County Sheriff's Office, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and Ackerman, Mississippi, Police Department today arrested the man charged with the murder of his pregnant girlfriend and a responding Meridian police officer Thursday night.

The suspect, Marquez Bender, 31, was arrested at approximately 10:15 a.m. (CST) behind a store in the 8900 block of Mississippi State Highway 12 in Ackerman, Mississippi. A firearm, believed to have been used in the homicides, was in his possession.

Bender had been fired from the Newton, Mississippi, Police Department two weeks ago.

The Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force became fully operational in July 2006 and operates out of USMS offices throughout Alabama and Mississippi, with its headquarters office located in Birmingham, Alabama. The GCRFTF partners with numerous federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies throughout Alabama and Mississippi continues to recruit other agencies to participate in the task force.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

####

America’s First Federal Law Enforcement Agency