Suspect in custody

Published 8:55 pm Thursday, January 9, 2014

On Wednesday, Picayune Police arrested Jeremy McCastile, 25, of 1110 Martin Luther King Blvd., in connection with two drive-by shootings. Both occurred the same night in August of last year, one on Sally Drive and one on Jackson Landing Road, said Jeremy Magri, assistant to the police chief.

Both complainants had told officers that they had both heard several gunshots and bullets striking their homes. At that point the police issued a statement naming Jeremy McCastile as a person of interest, Magri said.

MCCASTILE

Sign up for our daily email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Then in October, Picayune Police responded to a call of shots being fired in the 1100 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard in reference to a drive-by shooting, Magri said.

Two people were outside of the residence, one being identified as Jeremy McCastile, at the time of the shooting and advised officers that “unknown suspects pulled up in front of their house and fired several shots,” Magri said. “The suspects were in a white SUV and sped off after firing the shots.”

While at the scene, officers recovered a pistol that was believed to have belonged to Jeremy McCastile., Magri said.

“Evidence collected from the scene, along with evidence collected from the other drive-bys was sent to the crime lab for analysis, which showed the pistol recovered at the scene was the same used in the two other drive-by shootings that McCastile was believed to have been involved in,” Magri said. “This led to the arrest of McCastile on the charges of two counts of shooting into a dwelling.”

“Due to new technology, we were able to solve the case, which led to the arrest of our person of interest in the case,” said Chief Bryan Dawsey. “I would like to thank the men and women of our force and forensics department for working as a team and getting another violent criminal off of our streets.”

McCastille is being held at the Criminal Justice Center on a $500,000 bond, Magri said.