Police investigating gun reported during bar fight

Published 12:33 am Wednesday, March 7, 2018

 

NATCHEZ — A gun was in play during a bar fight at Bowie’s Tavern Friday night, police reports say.

Natchez Police Department Chief Walter Armstrong said officers are still investigating the incident, which happened after a wedding.

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“We are going to look at video and see what we can glean from it,” Armstrong said. “It’s still under investigation, but no one has come forward with any information for us and no charges have been pressed.”

Armstrong said several recent social media posts had prompted officers to look more closely at the incident.

“Police are first responders,” Armstrong said. “There is a chance that things happened that the police weren’t privy to.”

Officers were dispatched to a fight in progress about 2 a.m. Friday at Bowie’s Tavern, where the Natchez Police Department report says they found “several people yelling about a man with a gun.”

The report says the officer drew his own weapon and ordered the armed man — identified as Clarence Hall — to put his gun down, which he did.

After officers disarmed Hall, police reported a man later identified as Edward Cowan began speaking to Hall even after officers ordered him to “leave the parking lot and be quiet.”

Cowan, 29, 16 Cadet St., Vidalia, was arrested on a charge of failure to comply with law enforcement.

Another man, later identified as Jeremy Waldrop, began fighting with Hall and continued to do so after officers ordered him to stop.

Officers used pepper spray on the two men, but they continued fighting until an officer used a stun gun to stun Waldrop and stop the altercation.

Waldrop, 29, 606 Cherry St., Opelousas, La., was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace by fighting.

No one else was arrested during the incident, according to the report.

Armstrong said no one has come forward with any additional information for police.

“There was no indication that anyone was threatened with a gun,” Armstrong said. “If someone did something, I don’t know why they (the victim) wouldn’t come forward.”