Three face charges in Friday shooting incident

New Albany Police Chief Chris Robertson said officers have arrested three individuals in connection with a shooting incident that occurred Friday night.

Charged with aggravated assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm was Demarcus Green, 39.

Green’s bond was set at $50,000 on the assault charge and $10,000 on the firearms charge. However, he is unlikely to be freed because he was on probation at the time of this crime.

Charged with accessory after the fact of aggravated assault was Annetta Crayton, 41. Her bond was set at $10,000.

Also charged with accessory after the fact of aggravated assault was her husband, Terrance Crayton, 42. His bond was set at $10,000 as well.

Robertson said the shooting was the result of an ongoing feud between two family groups that he described as senseless.

It started a couple of weeks ago with two groups of young women essentially talking trash about each other, he said. The dispute simmered and other family members apparently became involved with even an unconfirmed report of someone being stabbed. “But we never found any evidence of that,” the chief said.

Then, one of those involved went to the Dollar General store to get items for a friend who had a baby. Two males on the opposing side of the argument happened to be in the parking lot and went in as well, starting an altercation.

The first woman returned home, told others what had happened and other family members were called in, escalating the situation, he said.

That led to one group going to a 214 Simmons Street address shortly after 9 p.m. to confront the other group and see what was going on, the chief said.

The arriving group pounded on the door but the occupants would not let them in, instead calling more family members themselves.

The defendants were among those who came. It was not clear what precipitated the actual shooting but Green is accused of shooting one of the cousins on the other side of the dispute.

After working overnight and later shifting through dozens of statements, some conflicting and some false, police picked up the three defendants where they lived on Butler Avenue.

The unidentified victim was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the buttocks area, and taken by members of the group to Baptist Memorial Hospital. He was later transferred to North Mississippi Medical Center where he underwent surgery and Robertson said he had been released Monday.

A large group of people were at the scene of the incident and at the hospital emergency room because of the size of the families involved, the chief said, but they were not unruly.

One weapon was recovered, but not the weapon believed to have been used in shooting