Indianola Police Chief Edrick Hall said he is very pleased with the extra steps taken by two of his officers that resulted in the recovery of five allegedly stolen firearms this past week, thereby getting some dangerous weapons off of the streets.
According to Hall, officer Jaquez Johnson was patrolling in a portion of south Indianola on Wednesday with the windows of his unit partially down when he heard what he believed to be an altercation. “Just kinda Ol Skool, the kind of thing I would do when I was on patrol, I’d never ride around with my windows up, I’d leave them cracked so I could hear,” Hall said.
According to him, Johnson could hear someone arguing so he parked his patrol unit, got out and called for assistance. After officer Deracius Winford arrived the two saw a man covered in mud and wearing muddy clothes behind a house proceeded to the back of the house where they started collecting his information and immediately noticed the cache of weapons there beside him.
Hall said the officers confiscated two assault rifles and three handguns from the scene. “Of course he denied them, said he was just out walking and he don’t know how the guns got there,” said Hall.
The chief said they turned all of the suspect’s information over to the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms division and they will be coming to pick up the weapons and conduct the investigation. Hall said he was not releasing a name and that it would be left up to the ATF investigators.
Hall said the weapons are believed to be part of a stock of guns stolen from the Mississippi Police Supply store in Ruleville last year.
Noting that the weapons and the suspect were behind the house and out of initial site, Hall expressed, “It was just a job well done, taking the extra step to get out and look and take those guns off of the street.”
