By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
An Atmore man is free on $100,000 bond this week, charged with three counts of attempted murder after he allegedly fired a gun into an occupied vehicle on a residential street.
Police Chief Chuck Brooks said in a June 19 press release that 33-year-old Labranden Sharp, of a Woods Road address, surrendered to Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies on June 18, four days after the shooting incident took place.
An employee of the jail’s booking and release division reported that Sharp is charged not only with the attempted murders, but also with one count of shooting into an occupied building or vehicle.
Atmore Police Department reports show that officers were sent around 5:30 p.m. on June 14 to a house in the 300 block of Montgomery Street in response to a report of a subject discharging a weapon into a vehicle. The caller didn’t mention that the vehicle was occupied.
Patrol officers arrived to discover that the shots had actually been fired into the vehicle — occupied by two adults and a 7-year-old child — while it was idling at the intersection of North Main and Liberty streets.
The assault victims, none of whom were hit by the bullets, told officers they fled to the Montgomery Street residence in order to get away from the offender and notify authorities.
According to the victims, Sharp pulled a handgun and began firing into the vehicle after a brief verbal altercation with one of the occupants. He reportedly took off in a gold Chevrolet Malibu, which was spotted minutes later on South Canoe Road.
APD officers and county deputies stopped the vehicle, only to find it was being driven by Kendra Williams, 37, of a Perdido Street address in Atmore. Williams, reportedly Sharp’s girlfriend, told lawmen she had just swapped vehicles with Sharp prior to being stopped, a move that was designed to lead authorities away from the shooting suspect.
She was taken into custody and charged as an accessory after the fact in the attempted murders of the three people in the car. She was later released from the county jail after a $50,000 bond was posted on her behalf.