Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

One arrested in shooting

A 22-year-old Prescott man has been charged with first degree battery in the shooting of another Prescott resident.

According to reports from the Prescott Police Department, the call came in Tuesday, Dec. 13, with officer John Pettit contacted by officer Wesley Lovette concerning the shooting.

Lovette, the report states, said Fred Hayes had been shot and taken to Medical Park Hospital in Hope by a personal vehicle.

Pettit went to MPH to get a statement from Hayes and was told the victim had been walking on Bemis Street when Larry Peters Jr. met him.

He said he and Peters had a misunderstanding over a cigarette and later, when Hayes was walking back from his mothers house, he had another encounter with Peters.

According to the report, Hayes said Peters began talking noise and began walking backwards. Peters allegedly pulled a small caliber pistol from his right front pocket and shot Hayes in the right knee. Hayes turned and began running north on Bemis. When he had gone two or three steps, according to the report, he heard another shot and noticed he had been shot again.

This time the wound was in the right rear upper thigh area.

Hayes ran around the back of a house, fell down, lost his jacket, got back up and ran into the woods to another house where he tried to get help. The jacket was recovered on Bemis Street.

A witness said she was on her front porch and saw the exchange of words between the two men along with the shooting. The witness told officers he or she saw Peters walk backwards and shoot Hayes, heard two more shots and went inside her home for safety.

A criminal history check on Peters revealed prior felony convictions in Nevada County.

Hayes was taken to Wadley Hospital in Texarkana due to the injuries received.

Along with being charged with first degree battery, Peters was charged with possession of firearms by certain persons (felon in possession of a firearm) and discharging a firearm in the city limits.