Mississippi man charged with attempted capital murder of officer; deputy wounded in incident

Published 5:34 am Sunday, December 18, 2022

A Mississippi man is being charged with two counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer after he reportedly shot and wounded a deputy from Lamar County in a police chase.

Troy Prenell Johnson, 22, of Lamar County, was taken into custody in the 600 block of Burnt Bridge Road in Lamar County shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday.

Johnson was the subject of a manhunt by law enforcement agencies across southeast Mississippi after he shot and wounded a Lamar County Sheriff’s Office deputy, who was treated at a local hospital and is expected to recover fully.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Johnson is being charged with one count of attempted capital murder in the shooting of the deputy and another count of attempted capital murder for shooting a squad car with another deputy inside.

Shortly before 7 p.m., deputies responded to reports of a burglary in progress on Nicholas Drive. It was at that point that deputies began pursuing an auto burglary suspect. The pursuit led deputies to Burnt Bridge Road, where the deputy was reportedly shot by Johnson.

Multiple agencies, including Hattiesburg Police, Marion County Sheriff’s Department, Forrest County Sheriff’s Department, Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Highway Patrol, assisted in the manhunt.