On February 8, 2019, The United States Marshalls Service and the Calloway County Sheriff’s Office began jointly looking for a wanted fugitive, 37 year old Jesse Derrick Branham. Branham was wanted for violating federal probation.
At approximately 12:30am on February 9th, deputies received information that Branham was at the Murray Inn and Art Gallery (formerly the Murray Plaza Inn) on S. 12 Street and officers from a number of law enforcement agencies converged on the suspect’s room. Shortly after law enforcement arrived, the suspect came to the door, opened it and pointed a handgun at deputies. He then retreated back into the room and barricaded himself inside with his girlfriend and their infant child. After hours of negotiating, Branham came out of the room with his girlfriend and child and again pointed the weapon at officers who were attempting to retrieve the girlfriend & child. After several attempts to get the girlfriend and child released, both were removed safely from the room.
Branham again retreated back into the room and barricaded himself for several more hours. After hours of negotiating, Branham exited the room, once again armed with a handgun but dropped the weapon when told to do so and was taken into custody without incident.
Branham was lodged in the Calloway County Jail. No one involved in the incident sustained any injuries. The Calloway County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by The U.S. Marshalls Office, The Murray Police Dept, The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, The Kentucky State Police, The Paducah Police Department, The McCracken County Sheriff’s Office, Calloway County Fire-Rescue and Murray-Calloway County EMS.