Federal firearms charges have now been brought against a teen-ager in connection with a drive-by shooting near the Eupora High School campus.
The incident occurred March 28, when local authorities and witnesses said a person on a dirt motorbike fired multiple shots from a handgun on West Clark Street near the EHS band hall and fled the scene. No one was injured in the shooting.
Cole Breazeale of Eupora was arrested later that day on state charges of drive-by shooting and possession of a stolen firearm. Authorities said the latter was a .22-caliber rifle that was not used in the drive-by.
Breazeale, 19, was bound over from Webster County Justice Court on May 11 to await county grand jury action on the state charges after waiving his right to a preliminary hearing.
Justice Court Judge Rebecca Ellison reduced his bond from $1 million to $25,000 upon a motion of his attorney, Kevin Horan of Grenada. Ellison set these conditions for the bond reduction if Breazeale was to make bail, according to court records:
• Constant monitoring with GPS by Court Programs.
• Psychological counseling.
• Stay off school property.
• Restricted (no) possession of firearms and weapons of any kind.
• Works at a sandbagging job.
However, Breazeale never posted bond and remained in custody until May 21, when he was served with an arrest warrant from U.S. District Court for the Northern District in Oxford. Webster County Jail records show he was being held for U.S. marshals and was released that afternoon to ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives).
Initial appearance
A federal grand jury in Oxford handed up a three-count indictment against Breazeale on May 16 charging him with unlawful transport of firearms, etc., possession of an unregistered firearm and using a firearm in a school zone.
Breazeale had an initial appearance in federal court on May 21 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Percy. Minutes of the proceedings show Breazeale advised the court he would retain counsel and that Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Bradley requested detention pending trial. Breazeale was remanded to custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Although not verified as of publication, he is apparently being held in the Lafayette County Detention Center in Oxford.
An arraignment and detention hearing was originally set for May 23, but Percy granted a subsequent motion from Horan for continuance. The reset hearing was to be held Tuesday morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jane Virdin at the Federal Building in Oxford.
Indictment details
The federal grand jury’s indictment charges Breazeale with committing these offenses on March 28:
• Count One: possessing a firearm and ammunition while he was addicted to and an unlawful user of a controlled substance. The firearms and ammunition are described as a Ruger model 10/22 carbine, a Yugoslavia model 59/26 7/62x39-caliber SKS-style rifle, nine rounds of 9mm ammunition, 50 rounds of 7.62 ammunition and four rounds of .22-caliber ammunition, “all of which had been shipped in interstate or foreign commerce.”
• Count Two: Possessing the aforementioned 10/22 carbine, with an overall length of less than 26 inches, thereby constituting a weapon made from a (.22-caliber) rifle, that was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
• Count Three: Possessing and discharging a firearm at Eupora High School, “a place that the defendant knew was a school zone.”
The charges of unlawful transport and possession of an unregistered firearm are each punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release. The charge of using a firearm in a school zone is punishable by up to five years in prison consecutive to any other sentence imposed, a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to one year of supervised release.
Criminal complaint
Special Agent Joe Frank of the ATF filed a probable cause affidavit on May 11 alleging that Breazeale committed the violations of possessing a firearm as a current drug user, possessing a weapon made from a rifle not registered to him and discharging/possessing a firearm in a school zone.
Frank stated in the criminal complaint that a 911 call was placed March 28 in reference to a shooting in the area of EHS. He said witnesses at the scene described the shooter as a white male with blonde hair with the sides of his head shaved riding a red dirt motorbike.
Frank wrote that, according to a search warrant prepared by Investigator Landon Griffin of the Webster County Sheriff’s Department, an eyewitness stated the driver of the motorcycle extended his right arm, had a handgun in his right hand and fired approximately six shots near where law enforcement recovered six spent 9mm shell casings later. Frank said multiple witnesses positively identified the shooter as Breazeale through photographic lineups prepared by law enforcement.
“The witnesses stated Breazeale had driven his motorcycle onto campus and drove through the band practice field and onto the band hall gravel driveway before pulling onto (West Clark Street) and discharging the handgun.” The affidavit states that law enforcement officers recovered the spent shell casings less than 500 feet directly behind the Eupora High School buildings.
During the follow-up investigation by law enforcement, multiple state search warrants were conducted and Breazeale was arrested later that day for the school shooting.
According to the affidavit, Breazeale stated during a subsequent interview with agents from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and FBI that he disposed of the handgun in a creek off Cummings Road. Law enforcement searched the creek but could not locate the handgun, the document states.
Frank also said in the affidavit that the two rifles were found during a search of Breazeale’s residence, that the defendant admitted to drug use and that he was a former student at EHS.
The Progress-Times attempted to contact Horan for comment but a phone message left for him on Friday was not returned as of deadline.
