Greenville man charged with murder after confessing to fatal shooting

Rodney Haney walked into Greenville police headquarters at about 11:42 a.m. on June 25 and told officers he had fatally shot Minnie Coffey on Alexander Street, the Greenville Police Department said. Police later charged him with murder.

After identifying himself, Haney declined to give any further details without an attorney present. Officers responded to the scene, took him into custody and opened an active investigation into Coffey’s death.

Police said Haney told them he and Coffey had been in a dating relationship for about four years, giving the case a domestic-violence dimension that reaches beyond a single street crime. Greenville is the county seat of Washington County in the Mississippi Delta, where violence tied to intimate relationships often draws close attention because it can move quickly from a private dispute to a criminal case handled by detectives, prosecutors and the courts.

The department has urged anyone with information to contact investigators or Crime Stoppers at (662) 378-8477, and anonymous tips are accepted. Coffey’s death and Haney’s decision to walk into headquarters have made Alexander Street the center of a case that is now moving through the local justice system.

The killing comes as Mississippi lawmakers have been considering a statewide Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board to study patterns in domestic-violence deaths. Mississippi Today reported in January 2025 that at least 96 Mississippians died from domestic violence in the prior year, a number that underscores why cases involving a dating relationship are tracked so closely by advocates and law enforcement. Federal crime data also treat domestic and family violence as a separate category when the victim and offender are tied by that kind of relationship, which is why the Coffey case carries both a homicide charge and a broader public-safety concern for the region.