A Neshoba County man is facing charges after allegedly threatening to kill the mother of his child before firing dozens of shots at responding sheriff’s deputies.
Augustine Eugene Clark, 42, of Noxapater, was taken into custody after the incident and charged with five counts of aggravated assault of a police officer with further charges possible.
The Neshoba Democrat reported that deputies with the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office received a call Monday around 2:45 p.m. about a man – later identified as Clark – armed with an AR-15 platform rifle and threatening a woman at a home in the northern part of the county, near the Winston County line.
After confirming that the woman and child were not on the property, deputies made contact with Clark at 3:25 p.m. The newspaper reported that Clark “threatened the lives of the deputies on scene and then retreated into the house.” Two minutes later, at 3:27 p.m., he opened fire from inside the house with deputies unable to see the subject.
In total, Clark fired 29 rounds, many of which hit deputy cruisers but not the deputies themselves, as gunfire was returned by law enforcement. Deputies fired three shots into the house without hitting Clark. After emptying his gun, Clark exited the house with his hands up.
Though appearing to surrender, Clark still managed to fight his arrest. Deputies had to use multiple tasers that “did not appear to affect the suspect,” the report continued, before a physical struggle finally ended with Clark in handcuffs.
Upon going inside the house, investigators found multiple loaded magazines and a camera system surveilling the driveway of the house that Clark was said to have been using to shoot at deputies through a closed door.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation took over the case since shots were fired by deputies and pressed the initial charges against Clark.
