A Harmony Grove man was jailed Wednesday after allegedly threatening to kill Ouachita County Sheriff David Norwood and deputies of the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Department.
David Pennington of the OCSD told the Camden News that Terry Tuberville, 57, of Harmony Grove, was “talking to someone on the street” and stated that he wanted to go to the sheriff’s office, “kill Sheriff David Norwood, and take out as many as he could before we (deputies) got him (Tuberville).”
The person with whom Tuberville was talking then went to the OCSD and reported what Tuberville allegedly stated.
The Arkansas State Police was also made aware of the threat, and a warrant was issued for Tuberville’s arrest.
Members of the OCSD went to Tuberville’s home on Wednesday, Aug. 21, after being made aware of the threats, Pennington stated. Tuberville was arrested without incident near his home in the Harmony Grove area.
“We had set up on his home and waited on him to leave and then took custody,” said Pennington. He explained that the OCSD used this procedure because others were in the home at the time, and deputies were considering the safety of those in the residence.
This is not the first time that Tuberville has had a run-in with deputies, and the prior incident involved Tuberville firing a weapon.
Pennington reported that in June of this year, OCSD was dispatched to Tuberville’s home to respond to an aggravated-assault report. When the deputies arrived at the home, Tuberville was there. Deputies identified themselves, and Tuberville responded by reportedly shooting into the air over the deputies’ heads, turning, and running back inside the house. Tuberville was caught and jailed.
During that incident, deputies were trying to make contact with Tuberville’s step-son regarding the assault report. Pennington said. He adding that the June case is pending, and Tuberville was released from jail after posting the necessary bond amount.
“I guess talking about this (June) case is when he made the threats about what he was going to do,” Pennington stated.
Tuberville is now being charged with “making a terrorist threat,” Pennington stated.
Norwood was contacted Thursday about the incident, and he said that after being in law enforcement for more than 50 years, he could live with threats. But he stated that he takes seriously the alleged threat Tuberville made - especially after the June incident where Tuberville fired a shot over the heads of the deputies.
The sheriff said the alleged threats to harm others at the sheriff’s office does not “sit well” with him, even more so since there are “60-80 civilians a day that go to court” who are in and around the sheriff’s office on business.