Sheriff: 80-year-old woman fired at Haywood deputies

 
MARIANN MARTIN
Jackson Sun.
August 20, 2009

 

An 80-year-old woman is behind bars after a Friday night standoff with Haywood County deputies that included her firing several shots at authorities, according to Sheriff Melvin Bond.

Bond on Wednesday said deputies arrested Lorene Harrell and her son, Claude Featherstone, 60, who was found hiding in a closet in her mobile home. No one was hurt in the incident.

Harrell is charged with aggravated assault and is being held on $10,000 bond. Featherstone was charged with evading arrest and is being held on $7,500 bond. The sheriff did not know when they would appear in court.

Bond said authorities received an anonymous tip that Featherstone was at Harrell's mobile home on Daisy Bradford Road.

Featherstone, of Brownsville, had several outstanding warrants from Missouri and Crockett County.

Four deputies went to Harrell's home to serve the warrants because deputies had dealt with Featherstone before, Bond said.

Two deputies knocked on the door of the mobile home after hearing Featherstone talking inside. Harrell came to the door, and deputies told her they were looking for her son.

"She slammed the door in the officers' faces," Bond said.

Deputies started to leave the doorstep but heard Featherstone talking again. They knocked on the door, but Harrell refused to open it, telling them to get off her property, Bond said.

That is when a shot was fired through the front door and deputies took cover in a standoff that lasted more than an hour.

"I advised them to wait this thing out and make sure no one gets hurt," Bond said.

Bond said dispatchers called Harrell on the telephone and that he tried to talk to her, but she hung up on him. Bond said they continued to try to talk to her.

"Deputies could see her inside the door, brandishing a gun," Bond said.

Bond said Harrell fired two more shots through the back door during the standoff.

Dispatchers eventually told Harrell that Bond wanted to see her outside, and she came to the door. Deputies were then able to arrest her, Bond said.

Authorities found a .22-caliber rifle and a .38-caliber revolver in the mobile home, as well as a box of .38-caliber bullets on the coffee table.

Bond said Featherstone was found hiding in a closet in a back room.

Harrell was examined at a local hospital before she was taken to jail, Bond said.

"I'm thankful that no one was hurt and me and my men were able to handle it," Bond said.

Haywood County Mayor Franklin Smith praised Bond for how authorities handled the incident.

"It was a situation that could have ended very differently," Smith said. "But Sheriff Bond handled it well, and no one got hurt."

                                       

 

                                       

 

Mother accused of striking bus driver

 

Staff Reporter

News Star

August 20, 2009

 

Sherbert Bradley, 29, 114 Monterey Circle, was charged with battery of a schoolteacher and simple battery of the infirm.

According to an arrest affidavit, a Ouachita Parish School bus driver said Bradley showed up at her house Tuesday evening and struck her in the mouth, causing bleeding, because she thought the bus driver was mean to her daughter.

When a 60-year-old woman tried to intervene, Bradley allegedly pushed her down, causing her head to strike against the floor.

Bradley was arrested and taken to Ouachita Correctional Center. She booked on a bond of $15,000.