PEARL, Miss.  -- Attorney Jim Hood has extended his condolences to staff of the Pearl Police Department and family of an investigator who died Tuesday.

"Today we are saddened beyond words that we have lost one of the state's finest," said Hood in a statement Monday from his office. "We mourn this loss with our fellow law enforcement officers and we pray for Detective Walter's family, friends and co-workers. Heaven is welcoming a hero today."

OFFICER DOWN MEMORIAL PAGE

Pearl police investigator  Michael J. "Mike" Walter, 37, died on May Day during a shooting while he and other officers were serving a warrant on a sexual battery suspect, who was killed.

Another officer was shot in the hand and leg and a third officer was injured in the forearm by something other than a gunshot.

Walter, a native of San Diego, and his wife Jeanne have an 11-year-old daughter, Bailey.  He played pitcher in the minor leagues for the Houston Astros from 1993 to 2000. He joined the Pearl Police Department in February 2009.