By Bonnie Culverhouse
Minden residents can rest a little easier today, knowing an alleged attempted murderer is behind bars.
Jaryon Stephens, 28, is charged with attempted second degree murder, attempted second degree battery, possession of methamphetamine and resisting arrest. A charge of burglary may be added.
“We are glad to get him off the streets, and I applaud our guys for their hard work,” Chief Jared McIver said.
Police have been following leads for about a month, and they all seemed to take investigators back to a particular part of town. The leads finally paid off.
Around 10:30 Thursday morning, Det. Sgt. Jason Smith checked a Peach Street residence where Stephens was known to frequent. As he was speaking to a citizen outside the location, movement caught his attention.
“I saw a head pop up from behind a car and then duck back down,” Smith said. The detective exited his unit and pulled his gun. “I said, ‘come here and let me see your hands.’ He popped back up and said, ‘I ain’t going to jail for something I ain’t did.’”
At that point, Det. Sgt. Jason Lee and Off. Matthew Hicks joined Smith, and Stephens ran. The pursuit began with some officers on foot and Smith in his vehicle. He eventually joined the others on foot.
The chase took them through yards, an abandoned house and woods, all within about a half-mile area. Deputy Chief Tokia Harrison joined Smith in the Church Street area.
“We had a kind of stand-off with him,” Smith said. “But he was up a six-foot hill and the only way for us to get up there was for me to holster my weapon and climb it.”
Through all this, Smith said Stephens was reaching into a backpack, as if he was trying to remove an object.
“Deputy Chief (Chris) Cheatham got there, and he hopped over the fence,” Smith said. Ofc. Logan Clingan rolled in with Off. Matthew Hicks, Sgt. Anthony Miller and Lt. Shawn Griffith. Clingan said he could see Stephens in the bushes.
“I could see they (officers) had guns on him, and I was going to go in and try to get hands on him and cuff him,” Clingan said. Because of the fence, Clingan and Sgt. Miller used “the buddy system” to allow Clingan to stand on Miller’s back and climb the fence.
Clingan said he could see Stephens on East Union Street, heading in the direction of Webster Junior High School. Lt. Chris McClaran reportedly used his patrol unit to block Stephens’ path.
“He (Stephens) ran into another yard and stopped,” Clingan said. “He was given verbal commands from several officers. He refused to comply, so I deployed my taser. It connected and did what it was supposed to do, but he didn’t go to the ground.”
After Stephens refused again, the officer incapacitated him by using the taser a second time. At that point, Stephens was secured in handcuffs and searched for weapons.
Clingan said Stephens dropped the backpack before he was caught, and when located, it was empty.
Wednesday, January 31 around 3 p.m., Ronnie Hemphill, the original shooting victim drove to a residence in the 600 block of MLK to pick up some friends. While he was sitting in the vehicle, Stephens reportedly emerged from the darkness and began firing into the vehicle.
“The victim was hit struck eight times with bullets hitting him in the upper extremities and one in the upper torso,” Smith said. “He managed to run about 60 feet from his vehicle to the residence where he collapsed.”
Hemphill was interviewed following his first surgery and positively identified Stephens as the shooter, Smith said.
“He was lucid and remembered everything. He picked the suspect from a photo lineup and even described the gun,” Smith said. “We also have other eye witnesses to the shooting.”
Later, investigators learned there was a second victim, who had been shot in the leg.
Earlier this week, Gene Kemp was arrested for harboring Stephens at his residence.
To see video of MPD bringing in Stephens: https://youtu.be/WdvJf7cKlTo
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.