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The event drew national attention, including a phone call from President Ronald Regan to the grieving family, in which he read to them John 15:13, which says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that he would lay his own life down for his friends."
Melissa Posey was 17 when her father was killed. She said the president's words gave the family hope in the early part of what would be tough days ahead.
"It made a huge difference with all of us. Being young like we were, it gave us a little bit of courage or encouragement to know that someone of his magnitude and position would care to call about old country boy James Posey," she said. "I think the answer to that would be that it gave us courage to get through it."
Posey was a man who worked hard for his family. When not performing his duties as sheriff of Franklin County, he worked on cars to make extra money to feed the mouths at home. And when it came to dealing with other people, Posey, by all accounts, was a brave man who never let societal standards get in the way of loving other people.
Melissa Posey said that's what she's carried with her to this day.
"He tried to live and treat people like he would want to be treated, I think he tried to love people in his own way like Jesus teaches us to love people," she said. "He loved everyone - black or white, it didn't matter, he respected everyone. It gave him trouble a lot of times, too, but he respected everybody the same."
And the day of his death, it was that steady compassion that was the last thing his friends and contemporaries saw of him. Former McComb Police Chief Billie Hughes, was a captain with the Mississippi Highway Patrol at the time, and had helped cut off the fleeing hostage taker when he entered Lincoln County. A standoff ensued, and Hughes said the last thing Posey said to him were words of encouragement.
"He talked them into letting him exchange himself for the hostage. He just walked over and handed me his pistol and said 'I can handle it,'" Hughes said. "The last thing he said to me, he turned his head over his shoulder and said, 'Billie, back off. I can handle it.'"
Hughes said what Posey did is something that will always set him apart from other men, much like President Regan told his family.
"He bet his life on it, and he certainly did a very heroic thing," Hughes said. "I do know they gave him posthumously the highest award for valor that the state could give out."
Ironically, in addition to Hughes, sources say current Copiah County Sheriff Harold Jones was also on the scene with MHP, and current Franklin County Sheriff James Newman was there as well. Charles "Sonny" Welch, one of the hostages, became a sheriff's deputy later in life.
And Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing was 8 years old at the time of the incident, which took place just down the road from his house.
Rushing said he saw the patrol cars driving up and down the road, and after he heard the shots fired, he saw one highway patrol car flying toward town. He said he doesn't know how much of the incident affected his career path, but that he has often thought about that day since.
"It's something you don't forget. I'm not going to say that was the sole cause of my being here, but as a kid I was always interested in law enforcement," he said. "And circumstances every day make you think about things like that in this job."
Hughes said in the path he's taken since Posey's death, he's thought about the situation often. He had seen plenty of death by that time, he said, but it made more of a mark in his life because it was someone he knew and cared about.
"But there was no different way to handle the situation than what we did," he said. "When you put on the badge, you've sworn to protect and serve, and you've got to take chances to help other people. Anyone who can't do that needs to look for another line of work."
But the biggest impact, naturally, has been on Posey's own family. Melissa was 17 when her father died, and her brother Mike was 14.
"We've had healing over the years, and we know for sure that you have to forgive no matter what," she said. "You have to look deeper than just a split-second decision. My brother and I would like to tell everyone even though this happened, a lot of good has come out of it ... The main thing for us to do as people in this life is to forgive. To love one another. No matter what happened."
And Melissa said she's pretty sure her dad would agree.
"If my dad could say something right now, he would say that he would do it again," she said. "And he would say to people, 'Y'all just need to love one another." I heard him say it a million times. It holds so true. It all comes back to that."
