MIDDLE FORK – A Magoffin man wanted for allegedly shooting into a residence with adults and children inside was arrested over the weekend.
On February 8, Magoffin County Sheriff Department Deputy W. Lafferty was on patrol when he and Deputy Blake Cantrell reportedly observed a vehicle on KY Rt. 30, and ran the registration, with the car coming back for Jayde Arnett, 27, of Salyersville, who was wanted on two active warrants.
Upon making contact with Arnett, police reported smelling a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle, leading them to ask if he had any marijuana on his person on inside the car. Arnett told police he had approximately 2 ounces of marijuana in the trunk of the car, according to the citation.
Police asked Arnett to step out of the car and he was detained at this time. As he had stated, police found marijuana laying under a football helmet in the trunk of the car, and as well as found another small bag of the substance and a set of digital scales inside the center console.
He was arrested and taken to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, where he was later released, and charged with trafficking in marijuana, first offense, and buying/possessing drug paraphernalia, in addition to the charges from the two warrants.
According to one of the warrants, on January 13, Deputy Salyer was dispatched to a home on Royalton Road regarding a shooting incident. When he arrived, the victim to Salyer that Arnett had stopped in front of him on KY Rt. 7 and got out of his vehicle, pointing a pistol toward his direction and fired the gun. After shooting the gun, Arnett reportedly got back in the car and drove off, according to the arrest warrant.
With this incident, he was charged with one count of first-degree wanton endangerment, discharge of a firearm.
In another warrant, six days later on January 19, 2025, Magoffin County Sheriff Deputy Eugene Salyer was dispatched to a residence on Middle Fork where someone had allegedly shot inside the home. Two adult victims gave a recorded statement to police, stating Arnett, along with another person identified to police, came to their residence and began to fire several gunshots with a semi-automatic handgun while standing outside the home.
One victim told police Arnett pointed the gun at her while she had a four-month-old infant in her arms, and that he pointed the gun at her boyfriend who was present. Two more small children were also reportedly in the home during the incident, according to the arrest warrant.
Police found a gun shell outside the residence and markings on the mobile home that looked to be a possible gunshot. Both victims told police the marking was not there before the incident occurred, according to the warrant.
In this case, Arnett was charged with five counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, discharge of firearm.
Arnett is set to be arraigned in the two felony wanton endangerment cases and the misdemeanor trafficking case on March 10 at 9 a.m. at the Magoffin County Justice Center.
Editor’s Note: The indictment or charge of a person by a grand jury or otherwise is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
