Omarian Green charged with felony for Friday evening gunfire

Omarian Green, age 18, remains in the Union County jail and is charged with shooting a firearm into an occupied dwelling.

Responding to a report of gunfire, New Albany Police Department (NAPD) officers went to the Hallmarc Inn, 304 Highway 30 West, shortly before 6 pm, Friday, November 4. They found Green, who was in possession of a handgun that had been recently fired. They immediately relieved him of the weapon. Green told police officers the gun had been fired “accidentally.” He also told officers he was 17 years old.

Officers found that the gun had been fired from a motel room and the projectile had gone through the wall and into the room next door, which was occupied.

Upon further investigation NAPD officers learned that Green is, in fact, well past his 18th birthday, meaning he is an adult under Mississippi criminal codes. He had apparently deceived officer about his age in the hope of being treated as a juvenile and processed by the state’s juvenile offender system.

Investigators found that Green was already under criminal indictment for breaking into a motor vehicle and stealing a handgun. He was out on bond on the prior charge. The gun he fired Friday evening is not the same one he stole from the car earlier.

NAPD Chief Chris Robertson told NEMiss.News late Monday afternoon that the district attorney’s office “has a hold on Green until they can get him in front of a judge to have his bond revoked” on the earlier theft charge. Robertson made one point clear:  “We will deal with firearms incidents, gunplay of any kind in the City of New Albany, swiftly and harshly.”

It is expected the DA’s office will take Green before a judge within a few days. Shooting into an occupied dwelling is a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison under Mississippi Code 97-37-29.