Officials are investigating how an 18-year-old murder suspect was killed inside a Mississippi jail only days after being taken into custody.
According to the New York Post, Mielun Butler was booked into the Hinds County Detention Center on July 1 after being charged in connection with the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Melvin Edwards at the Pine Ridge Garden Apartments in Jackson.
Two days later, a video showing a person kicking Butler’s motionless body circulated on social media.
Authorities later confirmed the footage was authentic and launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
An autopsy determined Butler died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Hinds County Coroner Jeremiah Howard said investigators found signs indicating the teenager had been stomped.
“It appeared he had shoe prints all over his head,” Howard told Mississippi Today.
Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said a detention officer who was on patrol during the incident has been placed on paid leave while officials investigate what happened inside the facility.
Jones said he believes the killing may have been connected to gang activity and could reflect violence that has affected both the surrounding community and the jail.
“I think it’s no secret that some of the violence that we have been witnessing in our community has eventually spilled over into the jail,” Jones said. “We believe there may be a strong connection.”
The Hinds County Detention Center has faced ongoing scrutiny over conditions inside the facility.
Jones transferred operational control of the jail to Wendell France, a court-appointed federal receiver, in October.
A federal judge is scheduled to hold a hearing regarding conditions at the detention center following Butler’s death.
The teenager’s killing also came the same day a Hinds County Chancery Court judge ordered the sheriff’s office to release jail death records that had been requested by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Butler was the second person arrested in connection with Edwards’ death.
During his initial court appearance on July 2, a judge ordered him held on a $1 million bond.
Authorities have not announced any arrests in connection with Butler’s death, and the investigation remains ongoing.