A man from Boaz was detained after firing through the ceiling of a house where he lived with his fiancée and three children.
Matthew David Harden, 21, was arrested and charged with domestic abuse, harassment, reckless endangerment, public intoxication, and reckless endangerment.
A deputy and a Douglas police officer went to a domestic incident between a male and female on Carnes Road in Boaz on Sunday, according to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office. On their route to the scene, they learned that the male subject, Harden, had discharged a gun into the ceiling of the apartment before fleeing.
While on the phone with the caller, dispatch heard further gunshots fired outside the property, according to the sheriff’s office.
When police arrived, they made contact with the female caller, who told them she and her fiancé were having a verbal fight when he shoved her. According to the sheriff’s office, he then armed himself with a handgun and fired it into the ceiling at one point.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim also notified authorities that their three children, all under the age of five, were present at the time of the crime.
Law enforcement started looking for the suspect and asked for help from the Boaz Police Department’s K-9 unit. According to the sheriff’s office, officers from the Boaz, Albertville, and Sardis police departments came to the location to aid in the search.
Officers initially failed to locate Harden and began to flee. According to the sheriff’s office, three more gunshots were fired as officers were leaving the apartment with the victim. At the time, the officers erected a perimeter and requested drone assistance from the Guntersville Police Department.
Officers heard another gunshot fired from a wooded area near the residence while the drone was being operated, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to the sheriff’s office, additional deputies responded to the site and advised residents in a nearby house to stay in place and not leave their home.
When officers noticed movement in the woods behind the victim’s house, they began issuing commands to the suspect. According to the sheriff’s office, Harden eventually obeyed directions and exited the woods, where he was apprehended without incident.
Harden was placed into the Marshall County Jail on $18,500 bond. According to jail records, Harden was freed early Tuesday.
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