It was an angry Sheriff Paul Burch who stood at the corner of Wagner and Kent Streets Friday afternoon and said this:
“Well, I’ve said this before in other interviews. Again, this opportunity just played out this way. But pointing the gun at my deputy’s probably be the last stupid decision you make. And that’s what they need to be thinking about. This could have ended very badly for some of them.”
Still, it was bad enough.
Four juveniles in a stolen car from Prichard, says the sheriff, who suddenly realized they were being tailed by someone.
That someone turned out to be Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies.
And that’s when, says the sheriff, the made a crucial mistake.
“So, they had the two rear passengers hang out, hung out of the rear windows and started firing at the deputy. And so he had already turned his lights on to get him stopped because they were hitting corners real fast. So, there’s probably between ten or fifteen or twenty rounds have been fired.”
And they did it, says the sheriff, while students nearby were still walking home from school.
In fact, there’s a good indication that one of the four juveniles had just left school himself.
“One is in a school uniform and they’re part of a gang out of Prichard.”
A clear container that appeared to be a school backpack was on the ground.
“It is,” confirmed the sheriff. “You can see the book bag there, there’s one of the pistols are just on the side of that marked vehicle over there.”
Deputies never fired back, but the four juveniles quickly bailed from the stolen car.
Three of them were immediately arrested.
But one did get away… and was arrested a few hours later.
“Actually, I was in the yard. I was in the yard when I heard the shots,” says Emmett Armstead who lives half a block away. “By the time I turned around I saw the police with the young guy. I’m like, what’s going on?”
Do the ages of the juveniles surprise him?
“Well, the way things are going now, man, they ain’t nothing that surprises me with the young ones,” he says. “They’re very out of control.”
“It’s sad,” says Mae Joyse Dawkins, who also lives nearby. “It’s sad, this is my neighborhood. This is sad.”
Dawkins was just getting home when she encountered the crime scene.
She has a plea for parents tonight.
“Please get a hold of your kids. Tear their behinds up. It’s not gonna hurt you to take them back. Because this is what we’re facing every day. Please. I’m begging you. Get a hold of our kids. Grand kids, grandparents, let’s step up and save our kids. This is our young youth. Please do it.”
The sheriff’s office is working with the district attorney’s office to establish charges.
