Harrison County deputies responded to Ridgeway on March 7th to a report of a male being shot. Harrison County Sheriff Trevor Place reports that, upon arrival, deputies located a male with several apparent gunshot wounds.
Place says that after obtaining statements from the victim, a suspect was developed. Twenty-year-old Avery Cook of Eagleville was arrested in connection with the shooting. Cook is being held in the Harrison County Jail without bond.
Cook has been charged with the felonies of first-degree assault or attempt involving serious physical injury or special victim, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon involving exhibiting. A bond hearing is scheduled for March 14th.
A probable cause statement from Place says Cook drove a pickup truck and stopped it east of Ridgeway. Jason Perkins Junior was said to be a passenger in the truck. Cook allegedly asked Perkins to help pick up money that was blowing away before shooting him with a nine-millimeter pistol. Place says Cook fled the scene in the truck, and Perkins ran down the road in the opposite direction.
Perkins told law enforcement he thought he had been shot five times. The probable cause statement says the sheriff observed a gunshot wound on the left side of Perkins’ head near his temple, both of his arms, and the center of his chest. Emergency medical services took him to the Liberty Hospital for treatment.
Cook was later found near Eagleville and was reportedly taken into custody without incident.
Officers located several areas of blood spatter on the ground in the center of the road at the scene, one spent nine-millimeter casing and one live nine-millimeter round. During a search of the truck, officers reportedly found a pistol magazine loaded with nine-millimeter ammunition and a spent nine-millimeter casing.
