4 min read
Major Takeaways
Cedric Garrett, 40, confessed on Facebook Live to killing his wife on Friday morning in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
His wife, Val-Tricia Garrett, 53, was found dead in the front passenger seat of the car.
Garrett died by his own hand as officers closed in behind the Vicksburg Convalescent Home.
Police are investigating the case as a domestic murder suicide, and no motive has been officially released.
A Vicksburg husband took to Facebook Live on Friday morning and told the watching world he had killed his wife. By late morning, both of them were gone.
Cedric Garrett, 40, started the broadcast around 7 a.m. from his car under the account name Gee Gskii. His wife lay unmoving in the front passenger seat beside him.
What the Broadcast Showed
In the video, Garrett cries and smokes as he speaks to the camera. He admits to killing his wife, and he returns again and again to the claim that she had been playing games with him.
The camera never shies away from the horror of the scene. His wife can be seen in the passenger seat, and she does not move at any point in the broadcast.
The video spread fast across social media on Friday morning. It reached family, friends, and thousands of strangers within a matter of hours.
We are publishing the video here because it sits at the center of this case. Readers should know before pressing play that it is deeply disturbing.
Police Chief Larry Burns spoke to the public later on Friday. He confirmed that Cedric and Val-Tricia Garrett were husband and wife.
A Welfare Check, Then Gunfire
Officers were called around 9 a.m. to check on a vehicle parked behind the Vicksburg Convalescent Home. The home sits near Shannon Street and Cherry Street.
They found Garrett inside the car with a firearm. He would not come out, and he barricaded himself inside the vehicle as officers surrounded it.
Around 9:42 a.m., shots rang out from inside the car. Officers then moved in and found that Garrett had turned the gun on himself.
Val-Tricia Garrett was found deceased in the passenger seat. Garrett also died, and officers secured the scene as the investigation began.
A Life That Mattered
Behind a headline like this one stands a woman who deserved to grow old. Val-Tricia Garrett was 53 years old, and her life reached far beyond its final morning.
Friends and neighbors spent Friday stunned and grieving. Many of them learned what had happened from the very video the rest of the country was watching.
That may be the cruelest part of all. A family should learn this kind of news from a knock at the door, never from a phone screen.
What Investigators Are Still Asking
Chief Burns said the investigation remains open and active. Detectives are working to piece together the hours that came before the broadcast began.
No motive has been officially stated by police. The department has not said what led Garrett to the lot behind the convalescent home that morning.
More details are expected as detectives continue their work. For now, the questions in Vicksburg far outnumber the answers.
The Crisis Behind the Headline
This case lands on a wound our community knows far too well. Violence inside the home remains one of the deadliest threats that Black women face.
Federal data lays that burden bare. Black women make up about 13 percent of the women in this country, yet they account for nearly 30 percent of the women killed by intimate partners.
Those numbers are not abstractions in Vicksburg tonight. They are a name, a family, and an empty chair at the table.
If you or someone you love is living with violence at home, help is one call away. The National Domestic Violence Hotline answers at 1-800-799-7233 at any hour, in confidence.
Urban City Podcast will follow this investigation as Vicksburg learns more. Tonight, our prayers rest with the family and loved ones of Val-Tricia Garrett.
Read more in our News coverage and our True Crime reporting from across Mississippi and the nation.
