Local residents stricken with grief over the tragic death of former Pike County resident Liquori Tate recall him as a charismatic man with a deep conviction and love for what he did.
Tate was one of two police officers gunned down in the line of duty Saturday in Hattiesburg. He had connections to Pike County, having graduated from South Pike High School in 2009 and Southwest Mississippi Community College in 2011.
Tate graduated from the police academy in June 2014. He became an officer with the Hattiesburg Police Department soon after.
On Saturday night, Tate was shot and killed in the line of duty, along with fellow officer Benjamin Deen, 34, during a routine traffic stop that turned deadly.
For many who knew Tate, they realized he was one of the victims of the tragedy well after the initial shock of the murders sunk in.
“I heard the news that night. But I didn’t realize it was Liquori until I saw a Facebook post about it the next day. I couldn’t believe it,” former co-worker Henderson Cunningham III said.
Cunningham worked at the McComb Wendy’s with Tate for about two years. During that time they developed a lasting friendship.
“He was a great guy. I remember he would crack a joke in the middle of something. We used to pick on each other because I was short and he was tall. But he would always make me and others laugh,” he said.
Cunningham lived in Hawaii for four years when he was in the Army, but he and Tate kept in contact. When he found out Tate had become a police officer, he said it seemed like a natural fit for him.
“That didn’t surprise me at all. He never smoked. He never drank. He was just very focused, very determined at whatever he did. And he was good with people,” he said.
Former South Pike High School men’s basketball coach, Cedric “Joe” Taylor said he learned of Liquori’s fate early Sunday morning. He remembers coaching Tate.
“He was a team player. He was a power forward with us. He was about 6’2, which is pretty small for that position, but he was a great rebounder. He had his moments too, when he would take over a game,” Taylor said.
Taylor also said Tate had a sense of humor and would crack up the team with a quick change in facial features.
“He was the guy on the team that made everyone laugh with just a look on his face. It would pick up the spirits of the guys, and me too,” Taylor said.
Mainly though, Taylor said he remembers Tate as a young man who showed a great deal of respect to him as a coach and others, and someone who exhibited a level of maturity beyond his years.
“Everything was ‘Yes or No, sir’. I remember he would apologize to me, or to the rest of the team if he felt he was out of line or had done something to affect the team’s unity. That takes a lot of guts to do, to stand up in front of others and take responsibility,” Taylor said.
Greg Partman was Tate’s former pastor at Walkers Chapel in McComb, a church the Tate family joined when Tate was in the 8th grade.
Partman said he learned Tate was one of the officers who had been killed about two hours after the shooting.
“It was a heartbreaking moment for me. I got the call Saturday night from his stepfather. This is a senseless tragedy,” he said.
His relationship with Tate was strong, and he helped direct him through pivotal moments in his life, he said.
“He came to my place a lot where we talked about things. I remember he came once and it was about the pressures involved with joining or not joining a gang. He actually stayed with me a couple days then, and he made the right decision,” he said.
“His passion was always to go into law enforcement. That was his dream. And he was doing what he was passionate about. This is a great example of a young man turning his life around for the good,” he said.
“He was full of faith,” Tate’s stepfather, Lonnie Ross, told the Clarion-Ledger. “He loved the Lord and that gives us comfort knowing in our faith if you accept Jesus as your savior, this isn’t the end, it’s the beginning of eternity...he was respectful to everyone that met him, everyone he dealt with in his everyday job. He was always kind to people, and he represented the best in the Hattiesburg Police Department, no doubt about that,” Ross said.
On his Facebook page, Tate chose to put “Treat others as you would like to be treated,”as the sentence, or message he wanted to express to others. It can be viewed as an ironic, or a sad reflection of a world gone increasingly violent — especially between law enforcement and the community it protects.
For Partman, he said he finds some solace in knowing Tate had achieved his dream and was doing what he wanted when he died.
“Unfortunately, this is the kind of world we live in and this violence has become an epidemic. But Liquori fulfilled his dream, his passion and his desire. He was doing what he loved,” Partman said.
