Man charged with shooting Mississippi deputy in the back

Published 9:38 pm Saturday, December 17, 2022

A sheriff said a Mississippi man will be charged with attempted capital murder after shooting a Lamar County sheriff’s deputy in the back hours and hitting another deputy’s police vehicle.

A deputy, named by WDAM-TV as Steve Pazos, was shot and wounded Friday night while investigating an auto burglary in Oak Grove, just outside Hattiesburg. The shooting happened when Pazos got out of his car after a chase, the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office said.

Pazos was taken to a hospital but later released, the sheriff’s office said.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Troy Prenell Johnson, 22, was arrested several hours later and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer. Lamar County Sheriff Danny Rigel told the television station later Saturday that Johnson will be charged with two counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer.

Rigel said one of those counts relates to Johnson shooting at Pazos, while the second count relates to Johnson hitting the vehicle of a different deputy.

Johnson is jailed in Lamar County awaiting an initial appearance before a judge who will decide whether to set bail. It’s unclear if Johnson has a lawyer.

“The suspect was taken into custody and he was brought to a local hospital for injuries that he received,” Rigel earlier said. “They are non-life threatening or anything like that.”

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation will report the results of its investigation to the attorney general’s office.