A Petal man has been arrested and charged with one count of aggravated assault after discharging a firearm in the direction of his aunt before turning that weapon on his aunt’s husband in a threatening manner.
Matthew Hiatt, chief of the Petal Police Department, said officers received a call at approximately 7:30 p.m. on August 18 regarding possible gunfire in the 100 block of Byrd Avenue in Petal, off of Ogilsvie Street near Petal Upper Elementary School. Upon arriving on the scene, officers were told by witnesses that 31-year-old William Thrash had fired a shotgun in the direction of his aunt while a child was in the residence.
Thrash then pointed the gun at his aunt’s husband and threatened to kill him, according to witness reports.
“When we arrived on the scene, it was assumed that (Thrash) was still in the house, because nobody could tell us if he had left or not, so we set up a perimeter,” Hiatt said. “We tried to make contact, but after not being able to successfully do that, we activated SWAT and put a drone in (the residence) to kind of surveil the premises.
“We were able to recover a shotgun that was laying in the bedroom by utilizing the drone, but there was still no contact with the (suspect) inside the residence, so we deployed gas in there. After no one responded to that, we went in and cleared the building, and (Thrash) was not in there. But we had to assume that he was in there, armed and dangerous, so that’s why we couldn’t just rush in and get him, and that took probably three and a half or four hours to do that.”
Officers spent some time attempting to locate Thrash, but were unable to find him at the time. The next morning, however, PPD officers received a call stating that Thrash had returned to the residence, at which point officers returned to the scene and took him into custody without incident.
Thrash is currently being held in the Forrest County Correctional Facility. As of August 19, a court date had not been set.
According to Section 97-3-7 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, a person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury purposely, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm; or causes any injury to a child who is in the process of boarding or exiting a school bus.
If convicted, a person guilty of that charge can face a $5,000 fine, jail time of up to 30 years – depending on the circumstances – or both.
