Feb. 16--LAUREL -- A Wednesday night domestic disturbance turned into a shooting that has left a physician hospitalized in the intensive care unit at a local hospital.
According to Maj. Robbie Suber with the Jones County Sheriff's Department, deputies were dispatched to a home in the 100 block of John Griffith Road in the Glade Community Wednesday evening just before midnight after receiving a complaint of a domestic disturbance and a possible overdose. Upon arrival, deputies encountered a 12-year-old girl outside the residence who said her parents were fighting.
Deputies knocked on the door of the home and an occupant, identified as Dr. Roger G. Meadows, age 59, met them at the door holding a 12-gauge shotgun. Deputies verbally told him to drop the weapon and Meadows refused. He then turned the weapon toward the deputies and one of them fired from his service weapon, striking the subject once in the abdomen. Meadows fell back into the home and after deputies took cover, he began firing several rounds through the doorway at them from a 45-caliber semi-automatic gun.
After a short standoff and the arrival of other deputies to the scene, Meadows was taken into custody and transported by ambulance to South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel where he underwent surgery for a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. He is currently in stable condition.
He is also in custody, charged with aggravated assault on an law enforcement officer and domestic aggravated assault.
The female, who is Dr. Meadows' wife, also was taken to the hospital for treatment of "what is beleived to be an overdose." Her current condition is unknown at this time.
According to Suber, both the adult female and the juvenile were taken from the residence prior to the shooting.
Officials said as a standard procedure, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation into the incident as an independent agency since it is an officer-involved shooting.
In addition to the Sheriff's Department, other agencies that responded to the incident include the Laurel Police Department and Investigator Wayne Black with the District Attorney's office.
Officials said the unidentified deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave until the investigation is complete.
Suber said he was not sure what prompted Meadows to open fire on the deputies, but said he is thankful no one else was injured.
"I've been with the sheriff's department just over four years now, and this is the first shooting incident involving an officer that we've had," said Suber.
Dr. Meadows is a physician at Hattiesburg Clinic's Immediate Care facility in Laurel.
Look for more on this story as it becomes available and in Sunday's print edition of the Laurel Leader-Call and online at www.leadercall.com
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