Video: Saturday Night Random Shootings Lead To Charges For Saltillo Man

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – A saltillo man is charged in connection to a weekend shooting spree that authorities say caused an uproar on social media with false information.

Late Saturday night, authorities received reports of someone riding in a vehicle, and firing a weapon in the direction of houses and cars.

In fact,  one car with three people was struck on the driver’s side window while traveling down County Road 681.

A bedroom window was struck in a home in the North Ridge subdivision.

Lee County Sheriff’s Deputies got a description of a suspect vehicle, and a black Chevy pickup, matching the description, was spotted and pulled over on County Road 461.

Three people in the truck were questioned, and several weapons were recovered, including a pellet rifle, bb gun and sling shot.

Twenty year old Austin Spears is charged with shooting into a motor vehicle.

Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson says social media was quickly filled with false, confusing and misleading information about the incident.

“Consider when you put it out there, is this really going to help the case?  Is it , especially if we’re looking for someone in a criminal element, that we’re trying to narrow down leads, because at that point we didn’t have any idea who it was, and it could have very easily went off to where we were interviewing , or talking to people who didn’t have anything to do with it , based upon information that wasn’t factual,” Sheriff Johnson said.

Several street lights were also reported struck.   Sheriff Johnson says more charges could be filed in the case.     Spears is out of jail on a $3,500 bond.