COVINGTON CO., Ala. (WDHN)—An Opp man sits in jail on charges of drug possession and failure to appear but he could face a “murder” charge stemming from a “fatal shooting” earlier this month.
A WDHN news crew visited the site of the fatal shooting in Eastern Covington County. We spoke with Sheriff Blake Turman on the “latest developments” of the investigation.
Two weeks ago, “Brandon foley” of opp was found dead from a gunshot wound at this home on
Jackson Town Road in the Horn Hill community in Eastern Covington County.
The house is owned by “James Derek Peoples” also of Opp. Shortly after the incident, Peoples was
arrested on a “previous” failure to appear charge. He’s also charged with drug possession of meth,
but no murder charge at this time.
Sheriff Turman says “right now this case is a priority in our office. The guys are working on it every day. I’m very confident they will come up with the right analysis of the case, and I’m confident the district attorney will see that, and we’ll move forward accordingly.”
Mike Gurspan says “Sheriff Turman says if there are any manslaughter or murder charges filed in this case, his investigators must be positive on what exactly happened on that day.”
Turman says his investigators are trying to determine whether peoples was acting in
self-defense. It could be a “standing ground” issue. Peoples claiming he was trying to defend himself when he shot Foley”.
“Circumstances surrounding it can be construed as somewhat in a couple of different ways and we want to make sure we got the right one,” according to sheriff Turman.
The deceased and people reportedly knew each other, but authorities have not released a possible motive over what prompted the fatal shot.