No charges in father-son shooting incident

WARREN COUNTY, Miss. (VDN) — No charges will be filed in the father-son shooting incident in Warren County on June 24.

“There was an altercation between family members. The shooter indicated he had obtained a weapon for purposes of self-defense, the shots he fired were warning shots, and were not fired intentionally to harm anyone. In a situation where people are acting quickly, the son was hit,” explained District Attorney Ricky Smith. “That was another factor, that the shooter did not intentionally mean to shoot anyone. Shots were fired in more of a warning pattern than anything. So all those factors led us to believe it should be remanded.”

Smith also met with the investigator shortly after the initial investigation was concluded.

“I was made aware that, based on witness statements, there was a very good possibility there could be a self-defense argument involved in this case,” explained Smith. “Upon his release from medical treatment, the victim came to the office, met with me, and indicated that he did not want to pursue charges against his father.”

When a victim decides not to pursue charges, the District Attorney’s office requires them to sign a formal statement confirming their decision to drop the case.

“I spoke with him for a while and made sure he was not being intimidated, coerced, or offered any type of compensation for asking the case to be dismissed,” said Smith. “However, the victim’s recommendation is just that, and the DA’s office will decide to move forward with the case or to drop charges.”

“In this case, with the statements provided to me by Detective Primeaux, my discussions with the victim, we felt it best to remand the case,” said Smith. “It would have been a difficult case to begin with because there were questions of who the aggressor was, whether the shooter was acting in perceived self-defense, so there were some issues with it even prior to the victim asking the charges be dismissed.”

The case has been remanded to the file without prejudice, meaning it is not dismissed permanently and can be reopened if another incident occurs between the same individuals.